wrinkly
Meaning
having many small lines or folds on the surface
Structure
Usage
the old document was written on wrinkly parchment.
she smiled, her eyes becoming wrinkly at the corners.
he peeled the wrinkly skin from the overripe apple.
Etymology
The word 'wrinkly' is a Modern English formation built upon the much older noun 'wrinkle'. The noun 'wrinkle' itself has a long history, tracing back to Middle English 'wrynkyl' and further to a common Germanic root, likely related to the act of twisting or winding, which conceptually leads to the formation of a crease. The adjectival suffix '-y', of Old English origin, is productively added to nouns to mean 'having the quality of' or 'resembling'. Thus, 'wrinkly' literally means 'characterized by wrinkles', directly describing a surface covered in small folds or lines, a straightforward morphological evolution from its core component.
Analysis
wrinkle (from middle english 'wrynkyl', of old english/germanic origin, meaning a small ridge or furrow) + y (old english adjective-forming suffix '-ig', meaning 'characterized by' or 'full of').