Dickweed vs Dickwad

Still from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

I don’t have much to add to this quote, from a post entitled Historical Usage of Derogatory Slang, by Art Tayler.

dickweed, n.

slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). derogatory.

Brit. /dkwid/, U.S. /dkwid/  [< DICK n.1 + WEED n.1]

A stupid, obnoxious, or contemptible person (esp. a man).

1984 J. ALGEO in J. E. Lighter Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang (1994) I. 586/2 [Campus slang.] Dickweed. 1986 C. MATHESON & E. SOLOMON Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (film script) 52 You killed Ted, you Medieval dick-weed! 1992 O. GOLDSMITH First Wives Club I. i. 23 It would be a pleasure to wake that dickweed up early. 2001 S. KINGDreamcatcher vi. 195 Come on, you dickweed.

dickwad, n.

slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). derogatory.

Brit. /dkwd/, U.S. /dkwd/  [< DICK n.1 + WAD n.1 Cf. earlier DICKWEED n.]

= DICKWEED n.

1989 P. MUNRO U.C.L.A. Slang 33 That guy is a total dickwad. 1995Interzone June 52/1 Now, was I imagining it, or did dickwad here say something about a way out of this mess? 2002 Hotdog Feb. 19/1 Chill out, dickwad.

It’s interesting that “-weed” is valid as of 1984, but “-wad” doesn’t appear until 1989.