Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “rickety” come from?

Rickety derives from the English disease name rickets, which comes from Ancient Greek ῥάχις meaning spine or backbone.

rickety (English): Of an object: not strong or sturdy, as because of...

Definitions

  1. Of an object: not strong or sturdy, as because of...

Ancestry of “rickety”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishricket—
2EnglishRick—
3EnglishrecruitA supply of anything wasted or exhausted; a...
4Frenchrecruterto recruit
5GermanRekrutrecruit; A soldier of the lowest rank in the...
6Frenchrecreute—
7Frenchrecruerecruit
8Old Frenchrecreu—
9Old Frenchrecreistre—

Words derived from “rickety”

  • ricketiness
  • ricketily
Every word from Old French recreistre →