giddy

Meaning

Adj

1. (predicative) Feeling a sense of spinning in the head, causing a perception of unsteadiness and being about to fall down; dizzy.
2. (attributive) Causing or likely to cause dizziness or a feeling of unsteadiness.
3. Moving around something or spinning rapidly.
4. (broadly) Unable to concentrate or think seriously; easily excited; impulsive; also, lightheartedly silly; frivolous.
5. (broadly, dated) Unable to concentrate or think seriously; easily excited; impulsive; also, lightheartedly silly; frivolous.
6. (broadly) Joyfully elated; overcome with excitement or happiness.
7. (British, broadly, dialectal) Feeling great anger; furious, raging.
8. (British, dialectal) Of an animal, chiefly a sheep: affected by gid (“a disease caused by parasitic infestation of the brain by tapeworm larvae”), which may result in the animal turning around aimlessly.
9. (figuratively, obsolete) Of a thing, especially a ship: unsteady, as if dizzy.

Noun

1. (archaic) Someone or something that is frivolous or impulsive.
2. (British, archaic) Synonym of gid (“a disease caused by parasitic infestation of the brain by tapeworm larvae”).

Verb

1. (archaic, transitive) To make (someone or something) dizzy or unsteady; to dizzy.
2. (archaic, intransitive) To become dizzy or unsteady.
3. (archaic, intransitive, obsolete) To move around something or spin rapidly; to reel; to whirl.

Synonyms

dizzy

💫

vertiginous

light-headed

woozy

lightheaded

silly

frivolous

airheaded

empty-headed

dazed

feel dizzy

featherbrained

be dizzy

stupid

foolish

unsteady

vertigo

queer

drunk

fond

giddily

giddiness

half-baked

half-witted

headless

heady

hoity-toity

ignorant

inane

light

muzzy

nauseated

queasy

rattlebrained

reeling

sappy

scatterbrained

sick

🤢

slow-witted

stray

tipsy

tottering

whirl

be intoxicated

be lost

doddery

gooselike

heavy-headed

soft-witted

be frivolous

Translations

vertigineux

tonto

💫

schwindlig

étourdi

lichtzinnig

duizelig

💫

marejat

duizelingwekkend

vertiginoso

💫

schwindelig

💫

schwindelnd

stordito

vertiginosa

vertiginosum

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɡɪd.i/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: gidi

Inherited from Old English: gidiġ

In summary

The adjective is derived from Middle English gidi, gedy, gydy (“demonically controlled or possessed; crazy, insane; foolish, idiotic, ridiculous, unwise; unsure; (rare) dizzy, shaky; (rare) of an animal: crazed, out of control; a fool”) [and other forms], from Old English gidiġ, gydiġ (“possessed by a demon or spirit, insane, mad”), from Proto-West Germanic *gudīg (“ghostly, spirited”, literally “possessed by a god or spirit”), from *god (“god”) + *-ig, *-g (suffix forming adjectives with the senses of being, doing, or having). The English word is analysable as god + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’, forming adjectives).
The noun and the verb are derived from the adjective.