DictionaryRoot: -y
English
-y
having, full of, or like
Forms
- -y
- -i- — Used before another ending when English spelling changes y to i.
Origin
From Old English -ig, an older Germanic descriptive ending.
Note
Its contribution ranges from containing something to merely resembling it.
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noun / adjective / verb
baby
BAY-bee/ˈbeɪbi/
A very young child or animal.
Etymology
Baby adds a diminutive ending to babe, which already meant an infant, reinforcing smallness rather than creating a new category. This diminutive largely displaced babe as the ordinary word for a very young child.
Related word entries
- angry
- artsy
- baby
- buggy
- bunny
- clammy
- crazy
- curly
- cutesy
- daffy
- dinky
- dirty
- drowsy
- dumpyShabby appearance
- dumpyShort and stout
- filthy
- funny
- gawky
- glitzy
- gloomy
- handy
- happy
- healthy
- hooky
- hungry
- jetty
- lucky
- messy
- monotony
- naughty
- noisy
- potty
- ruddy
- sassy
- scabby
- scurvyContemptible
- scurvyVitamin C deficiency disease
- slippery
- spicy
- sticky
- stodgy
- sundries
- teddy
- tricky
- unhappy
- wealthy
- windy
- wonky