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Muggy

3 stages from Old Norse to English.

Today it means unpleasantly warm and humid

Where does the word "muggy" come from? It comes from Old Norse mugga, passing through Middle English before entering English (1746).

1
Stage 1 of 3
mugga
Old Norse · medieval
"drizzling mist"
described a drizzling, misty fog
2
Stage 2 of 3
mugen
Middle English · c. 1390
"of fog: to drizzle"
verb borrowed from the Norse noun, meaning to drizzle
3
Stage 3 of 3
muggy
English · 1746
"damp, close, warm and humid"
-y suffix added to obsolete noun 'mug' (fog), sense shifted from mist itself to the sticky weather it brings
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