Dictionary

roynish en · ADJ

Etymology

French rogneux, from rogne (“scab, mange, itch”).

Meanings

1. (obsolete) Mangy; scabby.
2. Mean, paltry, vulgar or troublesome.
   • My lord, the roynish clown, at whom so oft Your Grace was wont to laugh, is also missing. c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], lines 629-30:
   • Their voices had a roynish sound that grated on Covenant's nerves—he had too many horrid memories of urviles—but he suppressed his discomfort 1980, Stephen Donaldson, The Wounded Land: The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Book One, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

Forms

Synonyms

contemptible (mean, paltry) · trashy · reef (scabby) · miserable · scald