August 31, 2013
- shaggy (adjective)
- What does it mean?
- 1 : covered with or made up of long, coarse, or tangled growth2 : having a rough or hairy surface
- How do you use it?
- The stray dog's long, shaggy coat was so matted, it took us hours to brush it out.
- Are you a word wiz?
"Shaggy" comes from the English word "shag." What word gave us "shag"?It was a hairy question, but if you chose D you managed it well! "Shaggy" and "shag" come into English from the Old English word for a tangled, matted covering. This Old English word has distant cousins in Old Norse: it's akin to Old Norse "skegg," meaning "beard," and "skaga," meaning "to project." Although "shaggy" is a very common word, it didn't enter English until the mid-1500s, centuries after "shag" did.