Etymology

speedy

S1P3E1E1D2Y4

Today it means: Proceeding with or characterized by high speed; rapid. Full definition →

Middle English spedy ← Old English spēdiġ ← Proto-West Germanic *spōdīg
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

speedy · adjective, verb1

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*spōdīg“successful, hurried”
  2. Old English · inherited fromspēdiġ“having good speed, lucky, prosperous; having means, wealthy, opulent, rich in material wealth; rich in, abounding in, abundant, plenteous, copious; powerful”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromspedy
  4. English todayspeedy

From Middle English spedy, spedi, from Old English spēdiġ (“having good speed, lucky, prosperous; having means, wealthy, opulent, rich in material wealth; rich in, abounding in, abundant, plenteous, copious; powerful”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōdīg (“successful, hurried”), equivalent to speed + -y. Cognate with Scots speedy (“speedy”), West Frisian spoedich (“speedily, quickly, soon”), Dutch spoedig (“speedy, swift, rapid, quick”), Low German spoodig, spödig (“hasty, fast, swift, quick”), German sputig, spudig (“industrious, speedy”).

Speedy · proper noun2

Scottish surname from an adjectival or diminutive form of Speed.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.