Dungy

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Resembling or containing animal excrement, especially in appearance or smell
2. Covered with or composed of animal droppings and waste matter
3. Foul and filthy like animal manure, or having the character of excrement

Etymology: Dungy is a word whose sense has been pulled in two directions at once. Its Middle English form, "dongy" or "donky", was built plainly from "dung" with the adjectival suffix "-y", so at root it simply means dung-like, befouled with dung. The surprise is that it is probably a doublet of "dingy", the two words having split from a common ancestor and drifted apart in meaning and spelling. "Dingy" now suggests drabness or grime in a general way, while "dungy" kept the sharper, more literal connection to filth. The pair shows how a single source can branch into two English words. The "-y" ending is one of the most productive suffixes in the language, turning nouns like "dirt", "dust" or "dung" into adjectives describing something covered in them. "Dungy" stayed close to its physical origin, while the related form took on the wider, faded sense of dirt that has lost its brightness.

Synonyms: foul, filthy, dirty, soiled

Antonyms: clean, pure, spotless