Raggy

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of ragi (“finger millet”). alt-of, alternative, uncountable
Adjective
  1. 1
    Raglike; like a rag.
  2. 2
    Foggy, misty (and typically cold), with drizzling rain. Yorkshire, dialectal, especially, obsolete, possibly

    "It looks a bit rough wi' lyin' out thoose raggy neets."

  3. 3
    Scruffy; tending to dress in rags.
  4. 4
    Similar in style to ragtime music.

Synonyms

All synonyms
tattered

Example

More examples

"His towels are raggy and dirty."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English raggy, from Old English raggiġ; equivalent to rag + -y.

Etymology 2

From rag + -y, rag being a dialectal (northern England) word for a fog or mist with drizzling rain, related to dialectal Danish rag (“sea vapour”). Compare roke, rawk, from a word for smoke (compare Swedish rök (“smoke”)), which may or may not be related.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.