wacky (adj.)

"crazy, eccentric," 1935, variant of whacky (n.) "fool," late 1800s British slang, probably ultimately from whack "a blow, stroke," from the notion of being whacked on the head one too many times.

also from 1935

Entries linking to wacky

whack (v.)

"to strike sharply," 1719, probably of imitative origin. The noun is from 1737. The word in out of whack (1885) is perhaps the slang meaning "share, just portion" (1785), which may be from the notion of the blow that divides, or the rap of the auctioneer's hammer. To have (or take) a whack at something "make an attempt" is by 1820 (with have), 1845 (with take). Wack or whack "crazy person," 1938, is probably a back-formation from wacky, which probably comes from the blow-on-the-head verb. Related: Whacked; whacking. Whacked out is from 1969.

Wack, whack in the slang sense of "unappealing; crazy," hence "worthless, stupid" is by 1986, apparently popularized by an anti-drug slogan crack is wack.

wack (n.)

"crazy person," 1938, back-formation from wacky. Adjective in slang sense of "worthless, stupid," is attested from late 1990s.

Trends of wacky

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

haywire

"soft wire for binding bales of hay," by 1891, from hay + wire (n.). Adjective meaning "poorly equipped, makeshift" is 1905, American English, from the sense of something held together only with haywire, particularly said to be from use of the stuff in New England lumber camps fo

sappy

Middle English sapi, of a tree or of wood, "full of sap," from Late Old English sæpig, from sæp "sap of a plant" (see sap (n.1)). The colloquial figurative sense, in reference to persons, etc., "foolish, foolishly sentimental" (1660s) might have developed from an intermediate sen

cool

Old English col "not warm" (but usually not as severe as cold), "moderately cold, neither warm nor very cold," also, figuratively, of persons, "unperturbed, undemonstrative, not excited or heated by passions," from Proto-Germanic *koluz (source also of Middle Dutch coel, Dutch ko

round

c. 1300 (early 13c. as a surname), "spherical in shape; circular in outline," of persons or animals, "well-fed;" from Anglo-French rounde, Old French roont (12c., Modern French rond), probably originally *redond, from Vulgar Latin *retundus (source also of Provençal redon, Spanis

the

definite article, late Old English þe, nominative masculine form of the demonstrative pronoun and adjective. After c.950, it replaced earlier se (masc.), seo (fem.), þæt (neuter), and probably represents se altered by the th- form which was used in all the masculine oblique cases

bend

Old English bendan "to bend a bow, bring into a curved state; confine with a string, fetter," causative of bindan "to bind," from Proto-Germanic base *band- "string, band" (source also of Old Norse benda "to join, strain, strive, bend"), from PIE root *bhendh- "to bind." The mean

around

c. 1300, "in circumference, in a circle, on every side," from phrase on round; see a- (1) + round (adj.). It was rare before 1600. In the sense of "here and there with no fixed direction" it is attested from 1776 in American English (British English prefers about). As a prepositi

the

bend

vaccination

1800, used by British physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823) for the technique he publicized of preventing smallpox by injecting people with the similar but much milder cowpox virus (variolae vaccinae), from vaccine (adj.) "pertaining to cows, from cows" (1798), from Latin vaccinus

Share wacky

‘cite’

Page URL:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/wacky

HTML Link:

<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/wacky">Etymology of wacky by etymonline</a>

APA style:

Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of wacky. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/wacky

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of wacky,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/wacky.

MLA style:

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of wacky.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/wacky. Accessed $(datetimeMla).

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of wacky.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/wacky (accessed $(datetime)).

updated on September 28, 2017

Remove ads >

Trending words

1. autumn
2. amen
3. virgin
4. hospitality
5. teacher
6. pride
7. chaos
8. empathy
9. deluge
10. ensconce

Dictionary entries near wacky

WAC

wack

wacke

wackjob

wacko

wacky

wad

wadding

waddle

wade

waders