edgy

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɛʤi/ UK /ˈɛʤi/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
tense and nervous, or daringly unconventional

The crowd grew edgy as the announcement was delayed.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · tense and nervous, or... tense nervousjitteryirritableon-edgeunconventional daring provocative

Opposites

calm relaxed placid conventional tame

Word family

Derived forms edgilyedginess

Related forms edge edged

Etymology

From edge (Old English ecg 'edge, blade') + -y; the sense 'irritable, on edge' arose in the 19th century, and 'daringly unconventional' in the 20th.

ecg Old English *agjō Proto-Germanic *h₂eḱ- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# edgy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈɛʤi/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɛʤi/

## Meanings
1. tense and nervous, or daringly unconventional

## Examples
- The crowd grew edgy as the announcement was delayed.

## Synonyms
- tense
- nervous
- jittery
- irritable
- on-edge
- unconventional
- daring
- provocative

## Antonyms
- calm
- relaxed
- placid
- conventional
- tame

## Derived Forms
- edgily
- edginess

## Related Forms
- edge
- edged

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: ecg
- Root: *agjō
- Root: *h₂eḱ-

## Etymology
From edge (Old English ecg 'edge, blade') + -y; the sense 'irritable, on edge' arose in the 19th century, and 'daringly unconventional' in the 20th.

## AI Etymology
Edgy is from edge (Old English ecg 'edge, blade') + -y; the sense 'irritable, on edge' arose in the 19th century, and 'daringly unconventional' in the 20th. The ancestry passes through Old English ecg, Proto-Germanic *agjō, and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-. The suffix -y forms an adjective meaning characterized by the base, so the English form is shaped by recognizable word formation as well as by its inherited or borrowed base. In present use as an adjective, it means "tense and nervous, or daringly unconventional", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include edge and edged; derived forms include edgily and edginess.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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