Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “patchy” come from?

Patchy derives from English patch, ultimately from Italian pazzo through Middle French -ie, Latin -ia, Latin -ivus, and Proto-Indo-European -kos.

patchy (English): Full of, or covered with, patches; abounding in...

Definitions

  1. Full of, or covered with, patches; abounding in...

Ancestry of “patchy”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-yAdded to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives...
2Middle English-yDesignates an adjective, in many cases formed by...
3Old English-iġ-y, -ic
4Proto-West Germanic-gForms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a...
5Proto-Germanic-gaz-y
6Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “patchy”

  • patchiness
  • patchily
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →