Etymology

shabby

shab·by
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Today it means: Of clothing, a place, etc.: unkempt and worn or otherwise in poor condition due to age or neglect; scruffy. Full definition →

English shab ← Middle English schabbe /shabbe ← Old English sċeabb
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*skabbaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic*skabb
  3. Old Englishsċeabb
  4. Middle Englishschabbe /shabbe
  5. Englishshab
  6. English todayshabby

The adjective is derived from shab (“(obsolete except UK, dialectal) scaly skin disease; skin disease of sheep; crust forming over wound, scab”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). The verb is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Dutch schabbig (“poor, needy, shabby”) * Middle High German schebic (modern German schäbig (“shabby”)) * Middle Low German schabbich (“miserable”) (modern Low German schabbig, schäbbig) * Scots shabby (“in poor health, ill”) * Swedish sjabbig (“shabby, mangy, scruffy”), skabbig (“scabby”)

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.