windy

English

Tree on a windy day

Etymology 1

From Middle English windy, from Old English windiġ (“windy”), from Proto-Germanic *windigaz (“windy”), equivalent to wind +‎ -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian wiendich (“windy”), West Frisian winich (“windy”), Dutch winderig (“windy”), German Low German windig (“windy”), German windig (“windy”), Swedish vindig (“windy”), Icelandic vindugur (“windy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪndi/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪndi

Adjective

windy (comparative windier, superlative windiest)

1. Accompanied by wind.

   It was a long and windy night.

2. Unsheltered and open to the wind.

   They shagged in a windy bus shelter.

3. Empty and lacking substance.

   They made windy promises they would not keep.

4. Long-winded; orally verbose.
5. (informal) Flatulent.

   The Tex-Mex meal had made them somewhat windy.

6. (slang) Nervous, frightened.
   • 1995, Pat Barker, The Ghost Road, Penguin, published 2014, The Regeneration Trilogy, page 848:

     The thing is he's not windy, he's a perfectly good soldier, no more than reasonably afraid of rifle and machine-gun bullets, shells, grenades.

Synonyms

• (accompanied by wind): blowy, blustery, breezy
• See also Thesaurus:verbose
• See also Thesaurus:flatulent

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “accompanied by wind”): calm, windless

Translations

accompanied by wind

• Albanian: me erë
• Arabic: عَاصِف (ʕāṣif)
• Armenian: քամոտ (hy) (kʻamot)
• Azerbaijani: küləkli (az)
• Belarusian: ве́траны (vjétrany)
• Bulgarian: ветрови́т (vetrovít)
• Catalan: ventós (ca)
• Chickasaw: mahli
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 大風／大风 (daai⁶ fung¹)

  Eastern Min: 大風／大风 (duâi-hŭng)

  Hakka: 大風／大风 (thai-fûng)

  Hokkien: 大風／大风 (tōa-hong)

  Mandarin: 大風／大风 (zh) (dàfēng)

• Czech: větrný (cs)
• Danish: blæsende
• Dutch: winderig (nl)
• Esperanto: venta (eo)
• Estonian: tuuline
• Finnish: tuulinen (fi)
• French: venteux (fr)
• Georgian: ქარიანი (kariani)
• German: windig (de)
• Greek: ανεμώδης (el) (anemódis)

  Ancient: ἀνεμώδης (anemṓdēs), ἠνεμόεις (ēnemóeis)

• Hindi: तूफ़ानी (hi) (tūfānī), हवादार (hi) (havādār)
• Hungarian: szeles (hu)
• Ingrian: tuulekas
• Irish: gaofar
• Italian: ventoso (it) m
• Japanese: 風の吹く (kaze no fuku), 風の強い (kaze no tsuyoi)
• Kazakh: желді (jeldı)
• Khmer: ខ្យល់ខ្លាំង (khyɑlkhlang)
• Korean: 바람 부는 (baram buneun)
• Kyrgyz: шамалдуу (ky) (şamalduu)
• Lao: ລົມແຮງ (lom hǣng)
• Latin: ventōsus
• Latvian: vējains
• Lithuanian: vėjuotas
• Macedonian: ветровит (vetrovit)
• Manchu: ᡝᡩᡠ᠋ᠩᡤᡝ (edungge)
• Manx: geayeeagh
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: салхитай (salxitaj)

  Mongolian: ᠰᠠᠯᠬᠢᠲᠠᠢ (salkitai)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vindfull

  Nynorsk: vindfull, vindal, vindsam

• Old Irish: gáethmar, gáethach
• Persian: بادی (fa) (bâdi)
• Polish: wietrzny (pl)
• Portuguese: ventoso (pt)
• Romanian: vântos (ro)
• Russian: ве́треный (ru) (vétrenyj)
• Sardinian: bentosu
• Scottish Gaelic: gaothach, gaothmhor, gaothar
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ветро̀вит, вјетро̀вит

  Roman: vetròvit (sh), vjetròvit (sh)

• Slovak: veterný
• Slovene: vetroven
• Southern Altai: јелдӱ (ǰeldü)
• Spanish: ventoso
• Swedish: blåsig (sv)
• Tajik: бодӣ (bodī)
• Tatar: җилле (cille)
• Thai: ลมแรง (lom-rɛɛng)
• Turkish: rüzgârlı
• Turkmen: şemally
• Tuvan: хаттыг (xattıg)
• Ukrainian: ві́тряний (vítrjanyj)
• Urdu: ہوا دار (havā-dār)
• Uyghur: شاماللىق (shamalliq)
• Uzbek: shamolli (uz)
• Vietnamese: có gió
• Volapük: vienik (vo)
• Welsh: gwyntog (cy)
• Yakut: тыаллаах (tıallaaq)
• Yiddish: ווינטיק (vintik)

unsheltered and open to the wind

• Chickasaw: mahli
• Czech: větrný (cs)
• Finnish: tuulinen (fi), tuulen pieksämä
• French: venteux (fr) m, venté (fr) m
• Italian: ventilato (it) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vindfull

  Nynorsk: vindfull

• Scottish Gaelic: gaothach
• Swedish: blåsig (sv)

empty and lacking substance

• Catalan: va (ca)
• Finnish: tyhjä (fi), tuulesta temmattu (fi)
• French: vain (fr)
• Japanese: 空疎な (ja) (くうそな, kūso na)
• Latin: vanus
• Spanish: vano (es)
• Swedish: tom (sv), ihålig (sv)

orally verbose — see long-winded

flatulent

• Finnish: ilmavaivainen
• French: venteux (fr) m
• Scottish Gaelic: gaothach, gaothmhor
• Spanish: flatulento

Noun

windy (plural windies)

1. (colloquial) A fart.

Translations

fart — see fart

Etymology 2

wind (“to curve, bend”) +‎ -y

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪndi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adjective

windy (comparative windier, superlative windiest)

1. (of a path etc) Having many bends; winding, twisting or tortuous.

Usage notes

Due to ambiguity with the homograph described above, the word winding is generally preferred in print.

Derived terms

• windiness
• windy pasty

 

Translations

having many bends

• Finnish: mutkainen (fi), kiemurteleva
• Italian: curvoso (it)
• Russian: изви́листый (ru) (izvílistyj)
• Yoruba: kọ́lọkọ̀lọ