cloudy

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cloudi, also cludiȝ,^[2][3] inherited from Old English clūdig (“rocky, hilly”),^[4][5][3][6] from clūd (“rock, hill”) and -ig, the ancestor of -y.^[5][7] The Middle English Dictionary takes it as partly the Old English word and partly a new formation on cloud,^[2] and the OED treats the modern word as formed from English cloud + -y, noting that Old English already had clūdig from clūd.^[7][8] The noun cloud itself meant a mass of rock or a hill in Old English, and is probably related to clod.^[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rocky, hilly: in the Old English translation of Orosius, where the land of the Northmen is described as very rocky in places.^[7][6] The OED records this sense until about 1400,^[7] and Orm still has it about 1175.^[2] In the modern sense, made of or like cloud, it is first recorded about 1300, in a life of St Brendan.^[7][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective followed its noun: when cloud passed from "rock mass" to "mass of vapour in the sky" around 1300, apparently from the likeness of cumulus clouds to rock masses,^[4][9] cloudy came to mean "of the nature of cloud".^[7][4] The sense "full of clouds, overcast" is recorded from before 1387, in Trevisa.^[7][4] Figurative uses came early: Chaucer's translation of Boethius (about 1374) already uses it for something darkened by trouble or gloom;^[7][4] from about 1400 it was used of thought or language that is obscure or unclear.^[7] Of liquids and other things that are not transparent, it is recorded from 1587.^[7][4] In B.E.'s dictionary of cant, about 1698, it meant dark-complexioned;^[10] from 1886, in R. L. Stevenson, it meant under a cloud, of doubtful reputation.^[7][10] In Nottinghamshire dialect it meant dusk, dark.^[11]

Timeline

• Old English – clūdig, rocky, stony.^[6][7]
• c. 1175 – cludiȝ, hilly, in Orm.^[2]
• c. 1300 – of cloud, of the nature of cloud.^[7][2]
• c. 1374 – figuratively, darkened by grief or trouble; gloomy.^[7]
• before 1387 – full of clouds, overcast.^[7]
• c. 1400 – of ideas or language, obscure, unclear.^[7]
• 1587 – not transparent or clear.^[7][4]
• 1676 – having cloud-like markings.^[7]
• 1886 – under a cloud of disgrace; shady.^[7][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Covered with or full of clouds; overcast: a cloudy afternoon.^[12][5][7]
2. Of or like cloud: a cloudy plume of steam.^[12][5][7]
3. Not clear or transparent; murky or opaque: The pond water was cloudy after the storm.^[12][7]
4. Marked with patches or streaks like clouds.^[12][7]
5. Not clear in meaning or thought; obscure or vague.^[12][7]
6. Gloomy or troubled in mood.^[12][5][7]

Word family

• cloudily
• cloudiness
• uncloudy

Related words

• cloud
• clod

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins