Gabby

How to spell gabby

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce gabby

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does gabby mean?

1. adjectiveInclined to talk a great deal, often about trivial things.

Gabby in a sentence

• The gabby receptionist kept every visitor chatting long past their appointment.

• After two cups of coffee he turned unusually gabby at the morning meeting.

Where does gabby come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

This is an informal adjective built on the verb and noun 'gab', meaning idle or rapid chatter. 'Gab' itself reaches back to Middle English, where it carried the sense of mocking or boastful talk, and it is closely tied to Old Norse 'gabba', meaning to mock or to make fun of someone, with parallel forms in Old French 'gab' for a jest or piece of boasting. Over time the mocking flavour faded and 'gab' came simply to mean talking a great deal, as in the much later phrase 'the gift of the gab'. The adjective 'gabby' grew up in colloquial English in the nineteenth century to describe a person who talks endlessly or too freely. The spelling trap is the doubled b: because the root 'gab' ends in a single b, writers must remember to double it before the -y, just as in 'shabby' or 'tabby'.

How the word is built

• gab (to chatter, talk)
• -by (adjective suffix formed with a doubled b)