Meanings
comparative pukier · superlative pukiest · alternative puky
- informalResembling vomit in colour, texture, etc.
The walls in this abandoned waiting area were painted a pukey orange, compounding the feeling of queasiness I'd had since breakfast.
2007, Lauren Mechling, Laura Moser, Foreign Exposure: The Social Climber Abroad - informalInclined to vomit; sick.
There's no way he'd allow a dog on his couch or on his 500-thread-count sheets, let alone a pukey baby.
2005, Rebecca Eckler, Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-be1 more example
His heart was thumping harder than ever, and it was impossible to tell if the sickish, pukey feeling deep down in his belly was relief or terror.
1990, Stephen King, The Moving Finger - informalVile; contemptible.
He called Mikkel a pukey little faggot. I'll kick him again when I can get at him.
2003, Guy Davenport, The Death of Picasso2 more examples
Biocky, unimaginative, and the pukey colour scheme has you searching out those Blues Brothers sun-glasses you bought on holiday last year, just before they went out of fashion.
1992 March, Ian Osborne, “Skull and Crossbones”, in Phil King, editor, Zzap!64, Ludlow, Shropshire: Europress Impact Ltd, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 48–49[…] it's nothing more than a pukey little garrison town in the middle of nowhere.
2007, Paul Auster, Travels in the Scriptorium
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From puke + -y. Compare German Low German pukig (“sickly, unhealthy, ailing”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German heruntergekommen, mitgenommen
- heruntergekommenvile
- mitgenommenvile
Cite this entry
pukey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pukey
“pukey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pukey. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pukey,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pukey.
Source: pukey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.