Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
addled. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
addled, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
addled in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
addled you have here. The definition of the word
addled will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
addled, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English addledd, adyld, equivalent to addle (“urine, liquid filth”) + -ed. Addle derives from Old English adel, adela (“mud, mire, liquid manure”), cognate with Old Swedish adel (“urine”), Middle Low German adel, Dutch aal (“manure”). Used in noun phrase addle egg (mid-13c.) “egg that does not hatch, rotten egg”, lit. “urine egg”, a loan translation of Latin ovum urinum, which is itself an erroneous loan translation of Ancient Greek οὔριον ᾠόν (oúrion ōión, “putrid egg”), lit. “wind egg”, from οὔριος (oúrios, “of the wind”), from οὖρος (oûros, “fair wind”) (confused by Roman writers with οὔριος (oúrios, “of urine”), from οὖρον (oûron, “urine”)). Because of this usage, the noun in English was taken as an adj. from c. 1600, meaning “putrid”.
Pronunciation
Verb
addled
- simple past and past participle of addle
Adjective
addled (comparative more addled, superlative most addled)
- (of eggs) Bad, rotten; inviable, containing a dead embryo.
- Confused; mixed up.
- (obsolete) Morbid, corrupt, putrid, or barren.
Derived terms
Translations
References
Anagrams