seedy
- Literal senses:
- Literal senses:
- (colloquial) Literal senses:
- (figuratively) Inferior in condition or quality.
- (figuratively) Inferior in condition or quality.
- (figuratively) Inferior in condition or quality.
- (figuratively) Inferior in condition or quality.
Frequency
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈsiːdi/
Etymology
In summary
From Middle English sedy, equivalent to seed + -y. The senses with negative connotation, first attested by 1725 in slang, originally especially “poor, out of money”, probably arose from the metaphor of a flower that has gone to seed, and is no longer considered beautiful. From there the word came to be used to describe unwell or past-their-prime people, and parallelly run-down places and by extension low-income or crime-affected urban areas. Compare the figurative expressions go to seed (by 1817), etc., originally in reference to plants, “cease flowering as seeds develop”.
tumble-down
Sign in to write sticky notes
Start learning English with learnfeliz.
Practice speaking and memorizing "seedy" and many other words and sentences in English.
'%3e%3c/path%3e%3c/g%3e%3cdefs%3e%3cmarker%20markerWidth='4.5'%20markerHeight='4.5'%20refX='2.25'%20refY='2.25'%20viewBox='0%200%204.5%204.5'%20orient='auto'%20id='SvgjsMarker4023'%3e%3cpolygon%20points='0,4.5%201.5,2.25%200,0%204.5,2.25'%20fill='white'%3e%3c/polygon%3e%3c/marker%3e%3c/defs%3e%3c/svg%3e)