frowsy
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 4 December 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 4, 2025 is:
frowsy • \FROW-zee\ • adjective
Something described as frowsy has a messy or dirty appearance.
// The lamp, discovered in a neglected corner of a frowsy antique store, turned out to be quite valuable.
Examples:
“Footage from his early shows is sublime. In one, models with frowsy hair totter along the catwalk in clogs, clutching—for reasons not explained—dead mackerel.” — Jess Cartner-Morley, The Guardian (London), 4 Mar. 2024
Did you know?
Despite its meanings suggesting neglect and inattention, frowsy has been kept in steady rotation by English users since the late 1600s. The word (which is also spelled frowzy and has enjoyed other variants over the centuries) first wafted into the language in an olfactory sense describing that which smells fusty and musty—an old factory, perhaps, or “corrupt air from animal substance,” which Benjamin Franklin described as “frouzy” in a 1773 letter. Frowsy later gained an additional sense describing the appearance of something (or someone) disheveled or unkempt. Charles Dickens was a big fan of this usage, writing of “frowzy fields, and cowhouses” in Dombey and Son and “a frowzy fringe” of hair hanging about someone’s ears in The Old Curiosity Shop. Both senses are still in use today.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for December 4th. |
| 0:12.2 | Today's word is Frowsy, spelled F-R-O-W-S-Y. Fruzzy is an adjective. |
| 0:19.6 | Something described as frowsy has a messy or dirty appearance. |
| 0:23.5 | Here's the word used in a sentence from The Guardian. Footage from his early shows is sublime. |
| 0:29.5 | In one, models with frowsy hair totter along the catwalk in clogs, clutching, for reasons not |
| 0:35.7 | explained, dead mackerel. |
| 0:45.5 | Despite its meanings suggesting neglect and inattention, the word frowsy has been kept in steady rotation by English users since the late 1600s. |
| 0:49.9 | The word which is also spelled F-R-O-W-Z-Y, and has enjoyed other variants over the centuries, |
| 0:57.2 | first wafted into the language in an olfactory sense, describing that which smells fusty and musty, |
| 1:04.2 | an old factory, perhaps, or corrupt air from animal substance, which Benjamin Franklin |
| 1:10.0 | described as fruzy in a 1773 letter. |
| 1:14.4 | Frowsy later gained an additional sense, describing the appearance of something or someone |
| 1:19.3 | dishevelled or unkempt. Charles Dickens was a big fan of this usage, writing |
| 1:24.9 | frowsy fields and cowhouses in Dombie and Sun, and a frowsy fringe of hair |
| 1:31.6 | hanging about someone's ears in the old curiosity shop. Both senses are still in use today. |
| 1:38.8 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:44.8 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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