cranky
pronunciation
How to pronounce cranky in British English:
UK [ˈkræŋki]
How to pronounce cranky in American English:
US [ˈkræŋki]
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- Adjective:
- (used of boats) inclined to heel over easily under sail
- easily irritated or annoyed
Word Origin
- cranky (adj.)
- "cross-tempered, irritable," 1807, from crank (n.) + -y (2). The evolution would be from earlier senses of crank, such as "a twist or fanciful turn of speech" (1590s); "inaccessible hole or crevice" (1560s). Grose's 1787 "Provincial Glossary" has "Cranky. Ailing sickly from the dutch crank, sick," and identifies it as a Northern word. Jamieson's Scottish dictionary (1825) has crank in a secondary sense of "hard, difficult," as in crank word, "a word hard to be understood;" crank job, "a work attended with difficulty, or requiring ingenuity in the execution." Related: Crankily; crankiness. Ben. Dang it, don't you spare him--A cross grain'd cranky toad as ever crawl'd. (etc.) [Richard Cumberland, "Lovers Resolutions," Act I, 1813]
Example
- 1. No. I just think you 're a little cranky .
- 2. She is one cranky hot bitch .
- 3. Think of it as advice from a cranky old man .
- 4. His mother has been cranky recently .
- 5. Joseph feels cranky early in the morning .