navvy

[ nav-ee ]

noun

, British Informal.

, plural nav·vies.

1. an unskilled manual laborer.

navvy

/ ˈnævɪ /

noun

1. informal.
   a labourer on a building site, excavations, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of navvy¹

First recorded in 1825–35; short for navigator

Word History and Origins

Origin of navvy¹

C19: shortened from navigator, builder of a navigation (sense 4)

Example Sentences

They helped build the C&O Canal and worked as navvies, or laborers, in its port.

From Washington Post

He leaves for a better life with his mother’s brother in Leeds, where he becomes a navvy.

From The Guardian

Prof Rotherham said it may have originally arrived with Welsh "navvies digging out the cuttings for the canal systems".

From BBC

By 1917, when navvies poured in and construction started on an inland railway to the north, widespread food shortages had led to violent workers’ demonstrations and a near mutiny among the army units.

From The Guardian

The scale of the work can be judged by the group of navvies gathered in the bottom right of the picture.

From BBC