gammy

1 9.9

Hurting or not working well, usually about a leg

adjective
/ˈɡæmi/

: lastimado

She avoided jogging because of a gammy knee that hurt whenever she ran.

Examples

I had good teachers, too, at my preparatory school, the sort who had gammy legs from the war, who walked around in kilts and battledress and wore medal ribbons.

Academic text (2010)
I'm supposed to be fresh for school and I spend half the night massaging his gammy leg.

Master Harold... and the Boys (2010)
So, he moves in here with his gammy leg, and the first time I leave you alone with him, he's got you giving him all your money.

The Good Liar (2019)
He had to use a crutch because his gammy leg couldn't support his weight.
After twisting his ankle, he found walking painful because of his gammy joint.

Synonyms

hurty

vsgammy

Baby Talk

1 8.7

Feeling sore and in pain after a fall or bump

refers to an injured or badly working limb rather than just pain

Antonyms

healthy

800 1.0

In good body and mind condition without sickness or injury

functioning

115 3.1

Working as it should and ready to use

How Injured

crippled

Slur

60 5.8

lame

20 4.1

injured

288 1.0

gammy

1 9.9

sore

187 1.0

Surface Forms

gammy positive

Morphology

gammy = gam (opaque) = gam + y

The word appears to be formed from the rare slang noun 'gam' plus '-y', but the base is obscure enough that most learners would not recover the meaning from the parts.

Etymology

Gammy probably comes from an old short word gam (and the related gamba) that means 'leg', a word still used in languages like Italian. So if something is gammy it means a limb is painful or not working properly, like saying the 'leg' is sore or injured.