Dragony

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the appearance, qualities or fierce character of a dragon, as in a creature that seems mythical and fearsome
2. Looking or behaving like a dragon, especially in being scaly, winged or threatening in a fantastical way
3. Suggestive of a dragon in form or temperament, often used to describe something monstrous or serpentine in appearance

Etymology: "Dragony" is formed simply from "dragon" plus the suffix "-y", which turns a noun into an adjective meaning "having the qualities of" or "resembling" the noun. So a dragony creature is one that resembles a dragon, much as "bony" or "stony" describe things like bone or stone. The word is also a doublet of "draconic". Both descend from the same ancestor, the Greek "drakōn" (serpent or dragon), but they reached English by different routes. "Dragon" came through Old French and Latin, while "draconic" was built later from the Latin "draco" and its adjective "draconicus", giving scholars and writers a more learned-sounding option. "Dragony" took the plainer, native-style path, combining the English noun with an English suffix, which is why it sounds more homely than its learned cousin.