dingy

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
  2. adjective (of color) discolored by impurities; not bright and clear; is often used in combination
  3. adjective causing dejection

Etymology

From English dialectal (Kentish) dingy (“dirty”), of unknown origin, though probably from Middle English *dingy, dungy, from Old English *dyncgiġ (“covered with dung, dirty”), an umlaut form of duncge, dung (“dung”), equivalent to dung + -y, hence a doublet of dungy.

In classic literature

Synonyms

begrimed, grimy, grubby, grungy, raunchy

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading