Drossy

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. The state of being regarded as inferior or unworthy
2. Characterized by the presence of waste material or impurities, often making something lower in value or quality
3. Having a composition that includes unwanted or worthless parts, reducing the overall desirability or purity

Etymology: Drossy is a plain formation: the adjective "dross" with the suffix "-y," meaning "full of" or "having the qualities of." The noun "dross" is the older element, and its history reaches back a long way. It descends from Old English, where a related form existed, and the word has been traced back through Proto-Germanic to a far older Indo-European root. Its earliest sense was the scum or refuse that rises to the surface when metal is melted and worked, the leftover slag that a smith skims off. That origin explains the adjective's meaning. Something drossy is contaminated with that kind of waste, so the word attaches naturally to ore, metal, or anything whose purity has been spoiled by what does not belong in it. Over time the sense widened from molten metal to any product or thing whose quality is lowered by impurities or worthless leftovers.