scratchy

Etymology

It is formed from English scratch + -y,^[2][3][4][5] from the noun scratch in its sense of a scratching mark or wound, which also gave scratches, the name of a disease of horses.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a horse, affected with the disease known as the scratches: 1710, in the London Gazette.^[2][3][6] The sense is now obsolete.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The horse-doctors' sense lasted until about 1800, or into the early 19th century according to the Shorter Oxford.^[2][4] From the 1820s the word described hair that was thin and straggly (1820) and drawing or writing made of scratches rather than firm lines (1827, in Hood);^[2][3] Etymonline traces from this the wider sense "ragged, rough, irregular",^[3] which the OED records in sport from 1881.^[2] The sense "apt to scratch" appears in 1866;^[2][3] from 1889 the word was used of a rough, grating sound, later especially of a worn sound recording.^[2][3] In the 20th century it came to mean bad-tempered or peevish (1925)^[2][7] and, of clothing or skin, itchy (1943).^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1710 – of a horse, affected with the scratches (obsolete by 1800).^[2][3]
• 1820 – of hair, scanty, straggling.^[2]
• 1827 – of pen or brush work, composed of scratches.^[2][3]
• 1866 – apt to scratch.^[2][3]
• 1881 – in sport, uneven, ragged.^[2]
• 1889 – of a sound or recording, rough, grating.^[2][3]
• 1925 – ill-tempered, peevish.^[2]
• 1943 – itchy.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Making a scratching or grating noise: an old, scratchy gramophone disc.^[6][5][2]
2. Made of or marked with scratches: scratchy pencil sketches.^[6][5][2]
3. Sparse or straggly in growth: a scratchy beard.^[6][2]
4. Uneven or ragged in performance: The team played a scratchy first half.^[6][5][2]
5. Causing itching or slight irritation of the skin: a scratchy woollen scarf.^[6][5][2]
6. Irritable or bad-tempered.^[7][2]
7. (obsolete, 1710–1800) Of a horse, affected with the scratches.^[2][4][6]

Word family

• scratchily
• scratchiness

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers