soggy knees

6.2

Knees made wet and uncomfortable by rain, mud, or wet clothes

noun

: rodillas mojadas

A rainstorm caught us by surprise, leaving me with soggy knees for the rest of the hike.

Examples

The soccer players came off the muddy field, all complaining of their soggy knees.
After sitting on the wet bench, I stood up with soggy knees and a frown.
I hate soggy knees!
Don't get soggy knees!
A sudden downpour during the picnic left me with soggy knees and a wet shirt.
After playing in the rain, the children had soggy knees from running through the puddles.
I couldn't find a dry spot to sit, so I ended up with soggy knees on the damp grass.

Surface Forms

soggy knees singular

soggy knees plural

Morphology

soggy + knee

The meaning 'knees that are wet and uncomfortable' is a straightforward compositional combination of the adjective 'soggy' and the noun 'knees' with no idiomatic shift. This adjective–noun pattern is literal and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Soggy knees comes from the plain image of someone's knees getting wet and heavy after kneeling or sitting in rain or mud. That's why the phrase means 'knees that are wet and uncomfortable'.