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trashy

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Etymology and origin of the English word trashy

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1620 before 1620, J. Dyke's Divers Select Sermons
Ultimate origins
Old Norse trosEnglish -y
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English trash
English trashy

Pronunciation

  • /ˈtɹæʃi/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English trash + -y.[2][3][4][5] Trash itself is perhaps from a Scandinavian source;[3] Etymonline compares Old Norse tros (“rubbish, fallen leaves and twigs”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of trash, worthless: before 1620, in J. Dyke's Divers Select Sermons (printed 1640).[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1620,[6] Etymonline to the 1610s,[3] and Dictionary.com to 1610–20.[5]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as "worthless; vile; useless", quoting Dryden on "trashy stuff" that seems glittering on stage.[7] From the mid-19th century it was used in the United States of people, for "worthless, disreputable": Green's Dictionary of Slang quotes Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852),[8] the OED a book of 1862 by "Edmund Kirke".[2] In American farming, from 1905, a field could be trashy, cluttered with the withered growth of the previous season.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1620 – worthless, rubbishy.[2]
  • 1852 – of people, worthless, disreputable (US).[8] The OED's first quotation is from 1862.[2]
  • 1905 – US, cluttered with the dead growth of the previous season.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Cheap, of poor quality or worthless; rubbishy: a shelf of trashy paperbacks.[6][4][2]
  2. (colloquial) Of people, disreputable or vulgar.[4][2][8]
  3. (US) Cluttered with the withered growth of the previous season.[2]

Word family

  • trashily
  • trashiness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
Cite this entry

“Trashy.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/trashy. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·