Etymology

dizzy

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Today it means: Experiencing a sensation of whirling and of being giddy, unbalanced, or lightheaded. Full definition →

Middle English dysy ← Old English dysiġ ← Proto-West Germanic *dusīg
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*dusīg“stunned; dazed”
  2. Old English · inherited fromdysiġ“stupid, foolish”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromdysy
  4. English todaydizzy

From Middle English dysy, desy, dusi, from Old English dysiġ (“stupid, foolish”), from Proto-West Germanic *dusīg (“stunned; dazed”). Akin to West Frisian dize (“fog”), Dutch deusig, duizig (“dizzy”), duizelig (“dizzy”), German dösig (“sleepy; stupid”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.