catchy

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈkæt͡ʃi/ See IPA manual

Freq #16518

Meanings

1

adj
Pleasant and easy to remember, especially a tune or phrase.

The song has a catchy chorus that stays in your head all day.
2

adj
Designed to attract attention.

The advert needs a catchy title to grab people's interest.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 adj · designed to attract attention. attention-getting

Word family

Forms catchiercatchiest

Derived forms catchilycatchinessuncatchy

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

catchy song
a song with a memorable tune that stays in your head

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From catch + -y.

*kap- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# catchy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈkæt͡ʃi/
**Frequency rank:** 16518

## Meanings
1. Pleasant and easy to remember, especially a tune or phrase.
2. Designed to attract attention.

## Examples
- The song has a catchy chorus that stays in your head all day.
- The advert needs a catchy title to grab people's interest.

## Derived Forms
- catchily
- catchiness
- uncatchy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kap-

## Etymology
From catch + -y.

## AI Etymology
Catchy is from catch plus -y. The historical chain also includes Proto-Indo-European *kap-. The formation is semantically transparent: the parts remain visible, while the compound or affix fixes the grammatical role and narrows the modern meaning. In use as an adjective, catchy denotes pleasant and easy to remember, especially a tune or phrase and designed to attract attention. The same word family continues in derived forms such as catchily, catchiness, and uncatchy.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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