Where does “wacky” come from?

Wacky derives from English whack, which comes from English thwack, tracing back through Middle English thakken and Old English þaccian to Proto-Germanic þakwōną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European tag-.

wacky (English): zany; eccentric; Alternative form of wacke

Definitions

  1. zany; eccentric; Alternative form of wacke

Ancestry of “wacky”, 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 “wacky

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos