Moody

How to spell moody

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce moody

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does moody mean?

1. adjectiveTending to have sudden changes of temper, or being sullen and bad-tempered.

Moody in a sentence

• He gets moody whenever he skips lunch.

• The teenager was quiet and moody all weekend.

Where does moody come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English noun mod, which meant the mind, the heart, the spirit, or even one's courage; the adjective modig once described someone bold, proud, or high-spirited. Over the centuries the noun narrowed from 'the whole inner state of mind' down to 'a particular emotional state' (the modern 'mood'), and the adjective moody followed it, shifting from 'brave and spirited' to 'given to gloomy or changeable feelings'. By the late medieval and early modern period moody had settled into its present sense of sullen, irritable, or prone to sudden swings of temper. The same Old English mod survives in the everyday word 'mood' and is a distant relative of the German 'Mut', meaning courage. Because the word is built so plainly from 'mood' plus '-y', the only real spelling point to remember is that the silent final 'd' of 'mood' stays put before the ending, giving the doubled-looking moo-d-y.

How the word is built

• mood (from Old English mod: mind, spirit, temper)
• -y (adjective suffix: characterised by)