nutty

English

Etymology

From nut +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnʌti/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌti
• Hyphenation: nut‧ty

Adjective

nutty (comparative nuttier, superlative nuttiest)

1. Containing nuts.

   This is a nutty chocolate bar.

2. Resembling or characteristic of nuts.
   • 1997, Mary Jo Plutt, Prevention's Stop Dieting and Lose Weight Cookbook, Rodale, →ISBN, page 210:

     Brown rice has had only its outer hull removed, leaving it with a beige color and a pleasantly nutty flavor.

3. (slang) Barmy, crazy, mad.

   Synonyms: nuts, squirrelly; see also Thesaurus:insane

   Your wife is as nutty as a fruitcake.

4. (British, dated) Extravagantly fashionable
   • 1932, Frank Richards, “The Complete Outsider”, in The Magnet:

     Skinner's friendship with his nutty pals seemed to have come to a sudden end.

Usage notes

In sense “insane”, similar to nuts, but more limited and somewhat milder: nutty means “eccentric, insane”, while “nuts” can mean either “insane” or “enthused, agitated” (“the crowd went nuts”), for which “nutty” is not used: *“the crowd went nutty”.

Derived terms

• nuttily
• nuttiness
• nutty as a fruit cake
• nutty Irishman
• nutty slack

 

Related terms

• nutter

Translations

containing nuts

• Czech: ořechový (cs)
• Finnish: pähkinä-, pähkinäinen
• French: plein de noix
• German: nussreich
• Polish: orzechowy (pl) m
• Russian: содержа́щий оре́хи (soderžáščij oréxi), име́ющий вкус оре́ха (iméjuščij vkus oréxa)

reminiscent of nuts

• Finnish: pähkinäinen
• German: nussig
• Swedish: nötaktig (sv), nötig (sv)

barmy, crazy, mad

• Esperanto: frenezeta
• Finnish: kaheli (fi), pöpi (fi)
• French: cinglé (fr), fou (fr), dingue (fr)
• German: verrückt (de), bekloppt (de)
• Polish: pomylony m, zwariowany (pl) m
• Russian: поме́шанный (ru) (poméšannyj), свихну́вшийся (ru) (svixnúvšijsja)
• Swedish: knasig (sv)