ruddy
/ˈɹʌdi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.01 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "Drystone walls, farm buildings and stone cottages, roofed with ruddy tiles, line the way and blend gently into the surrounding countryside."
- "A silvery cloud drifted over the mountains that surrounded him, its edges glowing with ruddy light cast from the harvest moon cradled between two peaks."
- "Frank, who is narrow and ruddy, and who tended to wear a shirt and tie with a cherry-red beanie pulled low over one ear, swapped his white butcher’s coat for a puffer jacket, and led me outside"
- "in ruddy health"
- ""Sister?" I inquired. "She ain't 'ere," a man's voice said. "What's more," it went on, "she ain't been 'ere for ruddy hours, neither. Can't you pull them ruddy curtains, mate, and let's 'ave some flippin' light?""
- "“Of all the damn silly fatheaded things!” she vociferated, if that's the word. “With a million ruddy names to choose from, these ruddy Creams call one ruddy son Wilbert and the other ruddy son Wilfred, and both these ruddy sons are known as Willie. Just going out of their way to mislead the innocent bystander. You'd think people would have more consideration.”"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-der. Old English rudu Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Old English rudiġ Middle English rody English ruddy Inherited from Middle English rody, from Old English rudiġ (“reddish; ruddy”), from rudu + -iġ. By surface analysis, rud (“redness”) + -y. Compare Icelandic roði (“redness”). The British slang sense expressing irritation is presumably a euphemism for bloody.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɹʌdi/
- British English: /ˈɹʌdi/
Usage
- Australian usage
- British usage
- Slang
- Informal
- Transitive verb