tatty

¹

[ tat-ee ]

adjective

, tat·ti·er, tat·ti·est.

1. cheap or tawdry; vulgar:

   a tatty production of a Shakespearean play.

2. shabby or ill-kempt; ragged; untidy:

   an old house with dirty windows and tatty curtains.

tatty

²

or tat·tie

[ tat-ee ]

noun

, plural tat·ties.

1. (in India) a screen, usually made of coarse, fragrant fibers, placed over a window or door and kept moistened with water in order to cool and deodorize the room.

tatty

/ ˈtætɪ /

adjective

1. worn out, shabby, tawdry, or unkempt

Derived Forms

• ˈtattiness, noun
• ˈtattily, adverb

Other Words From

• tatti·ly adverb
• tatti·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of tatty¹

1505–15; tat rag (probably back formation from tatter ¹ ) + -y ¹

Origin of tatty²

First recorded in 1785–95, tatty is from the Hindi word ṭaṭṭī

Word History and Origins

Origin of tatty¹

C16: of Scottish origin, probably related to Old English tættec a tatter

Example Sentences

It has posted videos showing bedraggled troops in tatty uniforms being led away handcuffed with cable ties, and huge caches of captured weapons and ammunition.

From BBC

Perhaps irony, like water for the swimming pool, is a resource that dries up seasonally in these parts, leaving only a dust bowl of surly resentment and some tatty deckchairs behind.

From Los Angeles Times

Look closely, and the beggar’s left hand has disappeared, tucked inside the placket of his tatty jacket.

From Los Angeles Times

The gloomy, dark room had bare belongings: a rope and wood cot, a steel vessel to store grains, a clay stove sunk in the ground and a tatty clothes line.

From BBC

If, as he spends the book insisting, all he and Meghan ever wanted was domestic simplicity — tatty sofas, Ikea lamps — then why, upon leaving the family, did they buy a $15 million house?

From Washington Post