4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "This was a hard call on who to give the points to. Marju was also correct in that this is used nowadays as an abusive nickname. I'm choosing Desmond's answer though so that the literal meaning is preserved for people searching in the future. I wish I could split the points. In my text I'm going to use "scaredy pants" because it fits with the playful style. Something like "pisspants" would be good to make it more abusive. "