Dizzy

How to spell dizzy

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce dizzy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dizzy mean?

1. adjectiveFeeling unsteady, as if everything is spinning, and at risk of losing balance.

Dizzy in a sentence

• Standing up too quickly left her feeling dizzy for a moment.

• The long flight and lack of sleep made him dizzy by the time he landed.

Where does dizzy come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes from the Old English dysig, which surprisingly did not mean light-headed at all but rather 'foolish' or 'stupid'. That same root produced related forms across the older Germanic languages, where the underlying idea seems to have been something like being dazed, muddled, or out of one's wits. Over the centuries the sense drifted away from plain foolishness toward the physical sensation of a swimming head and unsteady balance, a meaning firmly in place by the late medieval period. The modern spelling keeps the doubled z that grew up to mark the short, buzzing vowel sound, and the -y ending is the ordinary native suffix that turns a noun or root into a descriptive adjective. Because the word is so familiar, few adults pause over it, yet the doubled z is the one detail worth fixing in memory.

How the word is built

• dizz- (from Old English dysig: foolish, giddy)
• -y (adjective suffix)