What does drouthy mean?
Drouthy is an adjective meaning dry, parched, or thirsty — the quality of land, weather, or seasons starved of rain. It belongs chiefly to Scottish and Northern English vocabulary, where it remains in literary and dialectal use, though it is rare elsewhere in the English-speaking world. A farmer might speak of a drouthy summer that withered his crops, or a walker might describe a drouthy day on the hills as one that leaves the throat dry. The word derives from drouth, an older variant of drought, itself rooted in Old English words for dryness. Its connotations are rural and traditional rather than scientific: where a meteorologist reports drought conditions, a Scots poet might simply call the weather drouthy. Though uncommon, it is a vivid and evocative choice for writers seeking a distinctly northern or historical register, conjuring cracked earth, low streams, and long rainless spells more compactly than any modern synonym.
(Of land, weather, or a season) dry or parched through lack of rain.
"The drouthy fields yielded barely half their usual harvest."
Mostly Scottish and Northern English; poetic or archaic elsewhere.
(Chiefly Scots) Thirsty, or causing thirst.
"A drouthy wind blew off the fields all afternoon."
This sense survives mainly in Scots usage and traditional expressions.
Before 'drought' won the spelling war, English had two rivals — 'drouth' and 'drought' — and 'drouthy' still carries the older form in Scotland's weather-talk today.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of drouthy
Drouthy is formed from drouth — an old variant of drought, meaning dryness or lack of rain — plus the adjectival suffix -y. Both drouth and drought descend from Old English drūgaþ, 'dryness', related to the verb drēogan, 'to endure', and ultimately to Germanic roots meaning dry. The -ght spelling of drought reflects later influence, while drouth preserved the shorter Middle English form, especially in Scots and Northern dialects, where the adjective drouthy has been in use since at least the Middle Ages and appears in the poetry of Robert Burns.
Related word forms
How drouthy is actually used
Drouthy is a literary and dialectal word, most at home in Scottish and Northern English writing. It carries a somewhat archaic or poetic flavour and is rarely used in ordinary modern conversation outside those regions. The sense 'thirsty' survives mainly in Scots idiom.
Easily confused with drouthy
Drought is a noun naming a prolonged period without rain, while drouthy is an adjective describing something dry or parched.
Mouthy means talkative or insolent in speech, whereas drouthy describes dryness of land or thirst.