Reedy

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈɹiː.di/

Definitions

1. Covered with or resembling reeds, the tall grasslike plants growing in wetlands ; producing a voice or sound that is thin, high-pitched, or nasal in quality
2. Characterized by an abundance of reed vegetation, often found near water ; describing a tone or voice that is sharp and slightly hollow or nasal
3. Having a landscape filled with reed plants common to marshy areas ; emitting a vocal sound that is slender, piercing, and somewhat nasal in nature

Etymology: Reed grew in the English vocabulary long before it was ever applied to a sound. The Old English "hrēod" named the tall, hollow-stemmed grass that fills marshes and riverbanks, and from it came the Middle English "reedy," meaning covered with or full of reeds. The suffix "-y" simply turns a noun into an adjective meaning "having the quality of" or "full of," so "reedy" began as a plain description of a landscape, a lake fringed with reeds or a marsh thick with them. The sound sense developed from the physical reed itself. Reeds are hollow, and the thin, vibrating strips of cane used in instruments such as the clarinet and oboe are reeds in exactly this sense. A voice or tone that seems to come through something thin and vibrating, with a narrow, piercing or nasal edge, was described as "reedy," and that is the meaning that dominates modern use.

Synonyms: thin, slender

Antonyms: stout, thick