muddy

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Covered with or full of mud.

   He slogged across the muddy field after the storm.

2. 2
   adj

   Of water: cloudy and full of dirt or sediment.

   The river turned muddy after the heavy rain.

3. 3
   adj

   Not clear or easy to understand.

   His explanation was so muddy that no one understood it.

4. 4
   verb

   To make something cloudy or confused.

   Bringing up old arguments only muddies the discussion.

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English muddi, moddy, muddy (“covered with or full of mud, muddy”), from mud, mudde (“mud; turbid water”) + -i (suffix forming adjectives). Mud, mudde is possibly borrowed from Middle Dutch modde, and/or Middle Low German modde, mudde, from Proto-Germanic *mud-, *mudra- (“mud”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *mū-, *mew- (“moist”). The English word is analysable as mud + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). Doublet of muddle. The verb is derived from the adjective. cognates * Middle Low German moddich, muddich (German Low…

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images