shabby

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Worn out, untidy, or in poor condition because of age or neglect.

   They lived in a tiny flat with old, shabby furniture.

2. 2
   adj

   Unfair or mean in the way someone is treated.

   It was shabby treatment after all his years of loyal service.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Shabby, recorded from the mid-17th century, comes from a dialect form of the source of scab. That word came from Old Norse and ultimately from a Germanic root meaning “itch.”

The adjective is derived from shab (“(obsolete except UK, dialectal) scaly skin disease; skin disease of sheep; crust forming over wound, scab”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). The verb is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Dutch schabbig (“poor, needy, shabby”) * Middle High German schebic (modern German schäbig (“shabby”)) * Middle Low German schabbich (“miserable”) (modern Low German schabbig, schäbbig) * Scots shabby (“in poor health, ill”) * Swedish sjabbig (“shabby, mangy, scruffy”), skabbig (“scabby”)

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary