Nettiest

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Most inclined to annoy, provoke, or be easily angered ; most resembling or covered with stinging plants
2. Most prone to irritation or grumpiness ; most abundantly grown with or characterized by prickly weeds
3. Most likely to get upset or make others upset ; most densely set with or similar to the prickly herb

Etymology: "Nettiest" is the superlative of "netty," and the adjective itself has several competing origins that nobody has settled. One proposal links it to "net" in the sense of "elegant" or "neat," as in the older English sense of something trim and tidy, with the "-y" suffix adding a slightly lesser degree of that quality. Another traces it to "net" meaning an openwork mesh fabric, the same word behind fishing nets, with "-y" forming an adjective from it. A third idea is that it is a clipping of "netball," the women's game, though that connection is less certain. Two more suggestions are odder. Some scholars have argued that "netty" is a corruption of "necessary," a euphemism for an outhouse, which would make the adjective's ancestry a matter of bathroom politeness. Others point to French "nettoyer," meaning "to cleanse," or to Italian "gabinetto," meaning "toilet," which share the sense of cleanliness that a bathroom euphemism would need. Because none of these proposals can be confirmed, the word's history remains open, and the superlative "nettiest" simply inherits whichever origin is correct.