plucky

English

Etymology

From pluck (“nerve, persistence”) +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplʌki/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌki

Adjective

plucky (comparative pluckier, superlative pluckiest)

1. (informal) Having or showing pluck, courage or spirit in trying circumstances.

   Synonyms: brave, spunky, feisty

   • 1890, W. S. Gilbert, “The Modern Major-General”, in Songs of a Savoyard:

     For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury, / Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 231:

     "Dam' plucky of you, fixing it up like that. I kept that copper talking...give you a chance. By George, you did it perfectly."

   • 2020 July 29, “Lawmakers From Both Sides Take Aim at Big Tech Executives”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     At the start of the hearing, Mr. Bezos introduced himself as a lucky and humble example of the success of American democracy — the son of a plucky mother and a supportive, immigrant father who “fostered my curiosity and encouraged me to dream big.”

Derived terms

• pluckily
• pluckiness

Translations

having or showing pluck

• Bulgarian: решителен (bg) (rešitelen)
• Czech: kurážný
• Esperanto: kuraĝa (eo)
• Finnish: rohkea (fi), sisukas (fi)
• French: courageux (fr), qui a du cran
• German: beherzt (de), tapfer (de)
• Greek: θαρραλέος (el) (tharraléos)
• Hindi: वीर (hi) (vīr)
• Italian: coraggioso (it), impavido (it)
• Mandarin: 勇敢 (zh) (yǒnggǎn)
• Maori: kiriūka, whaipara
• Norman: gamme
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: modig (no), djerv (no)

• Polish: dzielny (pl)
• Portuguese: ousado (pt), impávido (pt)
• Russian: отва́жный (ru) (otvážnyj)
• Slovak: odvážny
• Spanish: valiente (es), osado (es)
• Swedish: modig (sv), djärv (sv)
• Vietnamese: can đảm (vi)

Further reading

• “plucky”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.