Dictionary

crotchety en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɹɒtʃ.ə.tɪ/ (UK)
• (US) audio
• /ˈkɹɑ.t͡ʃɪ.ti/ (US)

Etymology

From crotchet + -y, using crotchet in the 16th-century sense of a whim or fancy.

Meanings

1. Cranky, disagreeable, or stubborn, especially if prone to odd whims or fancies.
   • He has a happy home life, two sitcoms on the go and a new book in the offing. So why is the comedian, actor and Observer columnist still so crotchety? 2019 November 3, Andrew Anthony, “David Mitchell: ‘I have no reason to have these apocalyptic musings’”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
   • He wouldnt even let old Wilkie touch it do you remember Gerald but always gathered it himself and made his own julep. He was as crochety about his julep as an old maid, measuring everything by a recipe in his head. 1929, William Faulkner, “The Sound and the Fury”, in The Sound and the Fury & As I Lay Dying, New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, published 1946, →OCLC, page 184:

Forms

Deriveds

uncrotchety · crotchetily · crotchetiness

Relateds

old man yells at cloud

Translations (15)

de knatschig (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · de launisch (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · ru вздо́рный (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · ru капри́зный (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · fr grincheux (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · pl zrzędliwy (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · mi kirikawa (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · pl marudny (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · cs vrtošivý (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · fi oikukas (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · ru прихотли́вый (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · de quengelig (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · ru своенра́вный (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · bg капризен (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn) · fi äksy (cranky, disagreeable or stubborn)