Edgy

How to spell edgy

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce edgy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does edgy mean?

1. adjectiveTense, nervous, or easily irritated.
2. adjectiveDaringly unconventional, provocative, or at the cutting edge of fashion or taste.

Edgy in a sentence

• The long delay at the airport left everyone edgy and short-tempered.

• The magazine built its reputation on bold, edgy design.

• She felt edgy the morning before her big presentation.

• Critics praised the comedian for his edgy material about office life.

Where does edgy come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built from the noun 'edge', which traces back to the Old English 'ecg', meaning the sharp cutting side of a blade. That Old English word came from the same ancient Germanic source that also gave German 'Ecke' (corner) and is distantly related to the Latin 'acies' (sharp point or battle line). Adding the adjective suffix '-y' produced 'edgy', recorded from the early 1700s, first in the literal sense of having sharp edges or, among artists, of being too hard-outlined. By the nineteenth century it had shifted to describe a person on edge, that is, tense or irritable, and in the late twentieth century it gained the fashionable sense of being daringly unconventional. The spelling keeps the silent 'e' of 'edge' before the '-y', which is the small trap: it is 'edgy', not 'edgey'.

How the word is built

• edge (border, sharp side)
• -y (adjective suffix meaning 'having the quality of')