deftig

Perhaps borrowed from Middle Low German . Equivalent to deft +‎ -ig. Ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *daftī (“fitting, suitable”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛf.təx/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: def‧tig

deftig (comparative deftiger, superlative deftigst)

1. proper, decent
2. stylish, distinguished, genteel (showing high social class)
3. pompous

• (pompous): statig

• deftigheid

• → Papiamentu: dèftu

Via German Low German from Dutch deftig, itself seemingly from West Frisian. The original sense of the Dutch word is not quite clear but would have run on the lines of “suitable, solid, weighty”. The further semantic development has been such that the word now, arguably, has opposite senses in German (“coarse, rustic”) and Dutch (“refined, genteel”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛftɪç/ (standard)
• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛftɪk/ (common form in southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: def‧tig

deftig (strong nominative masculine singular deftiger, comparative deftiger, superlative am deftigsten)

1. firm, rough, coarse (most often of speech or behaviour)
2. (food) substantial, hearty, rustic
3. (dated or regional) solid, presentable

• Deftigkeit

• “deftig” in Duden online
• “deftig” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache