A.Word.A.Day --cadgy

A.Word.A.Day

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May 4, 2026

This week’s theme
Words to describe people

This week’s words
cadgy

Before, 1730-1731
There’s an After too.

Art: William Hogarth

Previous week’s theme
Geometrical terms used figuratively

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

The human species is a wonderfully assorted lot. At work, in the neighborhood, on a trail, or while idling over a coffee and watching the world go by, you meet a whole pageant of personalities.

What do you call them all?

Fortunately, English has been taking notes for centuries. Why settle for loud or grumpy when the language offers sharper, stranger, and more colorful ways to pin a label on them?

This week we hold up the linguistic magnifying glass and present five words to describe people. Can you think of someone to whom one or more of this week’s words would apply? It may be difficult to find a single person who fits all five, though now and then humanity does overachieve.

cadgy

PRONUNCIATION:

(KAJ-ee)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Wanton; lustful.
2. Cheerful.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1724.

USAGE:

“Crawford’s Willie is crude, cadgy, and blindingly charismatic, a man consumed by desire for raw power and its accouterments.”
Soren Andersen; Solid Outside, Hollow Inside; McClatchy-Tribune Business News (Washington, DC); Sep 22, 2006.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. -Horace Mann, educational reformer (4 May 1796-1859)

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