Skip to the word

Added 9 October 2026

scrawny

/ˈskɹɔːni/ adjective

adjective Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about scrawny at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Being very thin.
a child with skinny freckled legs
Inferior in size or quality.
scrawny cattle

Origin

A variant of dialectal scranny (“thin; lean; scraggy; poor; scanty; of inferior quality”), perhaps from Old Norse skran (“rubbish; junk”) + -y. Compare Norwegian skran (“lean, thin, skinny”), English scrannel (“lean; meager; poor; worthless”). Alternatively, perhaps from Old Norse skrælna (“to be shrivelled”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word