Link Centre Dictionary

scrawny

UK/ˈskɹɔːni/ US/ˈskɹɔni/ uncommon

adjective

1.

having unattractive thinness

  • “a child with skinny freckled legs”
  • “a long scrawny neck”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

inferior in size or quality

  • “scrawny cattle”
  • “scrubby cut-over pine”
  • “old stunted thorn trees”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

A variant of dialectal scranny (“thin; lean; scraggy; poor; scanty; of inferior quality”), perhaps from Old Norse skran (“rubbish; junk”) + -y. Compare Norwegian skran (“lean, thin, skinny”), English scrannel (“lean; meager; poor; worthless”). Alternatively, perhaps from Old Norse skrælna (“to be shrivelled”).

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.