Etymology

doozy

D2O1O1Z10Y4

Today it means: Something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense. Full definition →

First used 1903Polish duży
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The story

  1. Polish · derived fromduży
  2. English todaydoozy

Unknown. First appearance 1903. Perhaps from daisy (“the flower”) (Rudyard Kipling used daisy in this sense) or the name of Italian actress Eleonora Duse. The automobile manufacturer Duesenberg is often erroneously cited as the origin, but the word existed more than a decade earlier. Alternatively, possibly from Polish duży, but this is chronologically unlikely and not attested in period sources.

First known use, by meaning

  • 1903 Of high quality; remarkable; excellent.
  • 1911 Sporty, ostentatious, flashy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.