ungainly
un·gainly
adjective
1.
2.
difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape
- “an awkward bundle to carry”
- “a load of bunglesome paraphernalia”
- “clumsy wooden shoes”
- “the cello, a rather ungainly instrument for a girl”
Origin
From un- (“not”) + gainly (“graceful; becoming; proper, suitable; gracious, kindly”) (from gain (“dexterous; convenient, easy, handy; suitable”), from Old Norse gegn (“fit, serviceable; direct, straight; honest; kindly”) + -ly (suffix forming adjectives from nouns)). Compare dialectal Norwegian Nynorsk ugjegnleg (“stubborn; troublesome”).
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.