stinky

Etymology

It is formed from English stink + -y.^[2][3][4][5] A Middle English adjective stinkī, having an offensive smell, was formed in the same way from the noun stink,^[6] and the Shorter Oxford treats it as the same word, noting that it is not recorded between late Middle English and the mid 19th century.^[3] Stink goes back to Old English stincan (“to emit a smell”), a strong verb with cognates in Old Saxon stincan, Old High German stinkan and Dutch stinken.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having an offensive smell: before 1425, as a gloss on Latin olidus in the Medulla, and in a copy of Chaucer's Parson's Tale from about 1465.^[6][4] The modern record begins in 1888, in Kipling's Plain Tales from the Hills, where the OED defines it simply as "stinking".^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective took over from the older participle stinking, used as an adjective in this sense from about 1300.^[4] In slang, originally American according to Green, stinky came to mean disgusting, nasty, inferior or even dangerous, with a first quotation from 1914;^[7] Collins records the informal senses "unpleasant" and "of poor quality, contemptible".^[8] Green also has an adverbial use, "badly" (1948).^[7] The slang stinko, of very poor quality, is from 1924.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1425 – having an offensive smell, in Middle English.^[6]
• 1888 – the modern adjective, in Kipling.^[2][4]
• 1914 – slang, disgusting, inferior, nasty.^[7]
• 1948 – adverb, badly (slang).^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a strong, unpleasant smell; smelly: a pile of stinky socks.^[8][9][2]
2. (informal) Unpleasant or disgusting.^[8][7]
3. (informal) Of poor quality; contemptible.^[8][7]

Word family

• stinkiness

Related words

• stink
• stinking
• stinko
• stench

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c 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)
7. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster