scrawny

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

A variant of dialectal scranny (“thin; lean; scraggy; poor; scanty; of inferior quality”), perhaps from Old Norse skran (“rubbish; junk”) +‎ -y. Compare Norwegian skran (“lean, thin, skinny”), English scrannel (“lean; meager; poor; worthless”).

Alternatively, perhaps from Old Norse skrælna (“to be shrivelled”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

scrawny (comparative scrawnier, superlative scrawniest)

  1. Thin, malnourished, and weak.
    • 1992, Robert Jordan, “Chapter 31: Assurances”, in The Shadow Rising (The Wheel of Time; 4), London: Orbit Books, published 2021, →ISBN, page 498:
      “Tell him, in these words, that I will have his scrawny bones before me now. Tell him, Byar, and bring him if you must arrest him and those filthy wretches who disgrace the Children. Go.”

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References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “scrawny”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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