wiry
Meaning
(of a person or part of their body) thin but strong and with sinewy muscles.
(of hair) resembling wire in being stiff, coarse, and curly.
(of an object or material) resembling wire in form and texture; slender, stiff, and flexible.
Structure
Usage
He had a wiry build, ideal for a long-distance runner.
Her wiry grey hair stood out in all directions.
The artist used wiry branches to construct the delicate sculpture.
Etymology
The word 'wiry' is a straightforward English derivation from the noun 'wire'. The core noun 'wire' itself has a Germanic origin, tracing back to Old English 'wīr', likely from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "metal drawn out into a thread." The addition of the adjectival suffix '-y', a common feature in English word formation, creates the meaning "resembling or having the characteristics of wire." This semantic evolution is logical: just as wire is thin, strong, and flexible, a 'wiry' person is lean and sinewy, and 'wiry' hair is stiff and coarse like metal thread. The term perfectly encapsulates the transfer of physical properties from a material object to descriptions of living beings and other textures.
Analysis
'Wir' is a direct substring of the English noun 'wire', which originates from Old English 'wīr'. The suffix '-y' is a productive English adjectival suffix from Old English '-ig', used to form adjectives meaning "having the qualities of" or "full of".