buggy

¹ American  

[buhg-ee] / ˈbʌg i /

adjective

buggier, buggiest

1. infested with bugs.

   We spent one last muggy, buggy summer at the campsite up North, then started vacationing in the Southwest.

2. Computers. (of software) containing errors or imperfections that reduce reliability, performance, or user experience.

   The game’s load times were slow, and the autosave was buggy.

3. Slang. crazy; insane; peculiar.

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buggy ² American  

[buhg-ee] / ˈbʌg i /

noun

plural

buggies

1. a light, four-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage with a single seat and a transverse spring.

2. (in India) a light, two-wheeled carriage with a folding top.

3. baby carriage.

4. Older Slang. an automobile, especially an old or dilapidated one.

5. a small wagon or truck for transporting heavy materials, as coal in a mine or freshly mixed concrete at a construction site, for short distances.

6. Metallurgy. a car, as for transporting ingots or charges for open-hearth furnaces.

7. any of various small vehicles adapted for use on a given terrain, as on sand beaches or swamps.

8. British. a light, two-wheeled, open carriage.

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buggy ¹ British  

/ ˈbʌɡɪ /

noun

1. a light horse-drawn carriage having either four wheels (esp in the US and Canada) or two wheels (esp in Britain and India)

2. short for beach buggy

3. short for Baby Buggy See baby carriage

4. a small motorized vehicle designed for a particular purpose

   golf buggy

   moon buggy

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buggy ² British  

/ ˈbʌɡɪ /

adjective

1. infested with bugs

2. slang insane

3. informal (of a system or machine, esp a computer program) containing errors or faults

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Usage

What does buggy mean? As an adjective, buggy means full of bugs or infested with bugs. This can literally refer to insects, as in a buggy swamp, or it can refer to the kind of bugs found in software or machines—glitches and programming errors. As a noun, buggy refers to a small, wheeled cart or other vehicle, especially a horse-drawn carriage (often called a horse and buggy). There are several different vehicles that can be called a buggy. Example: The beta version of the app is a little buggy, so we’ll need to do some additional testing before we release it to the users.

Other Word Forms

• bugginess noun

Etymology

Origin of buggy¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; bug ¹ + -y ¹

Origin of buggy²

First recorded in 1750–60; of obscure origin

Explanation

A buggy is a cart with wheels that's pulled by a horse. In the 19th century, the most popular way to take short trips was in a horse and buggy. Most people think of a horse pulling a carriage when they hear the word buggy, although you can use the term for other small vehicles, whether they're electric or powered by gasoline — like a golf buggy. If you use buggy to describe a camp site, however, you mean it's infested with insects. The origins of both meanings are uncertain, although the Middle English bugge, "something frightening" might be one root of the "full of bugs" definition.

Example Sentences

But knowing our luck, we’ll be struggling with forgotten passwords for our smart toothbrushes and buggy firmware updates for our flying cars.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

Other babies my age were kicking and crawling, but I was quite content sitting in my buggy, watching the world pass me by.

From BBC • Jan. 9, 2026

Driving in a golf buggy with Donald Trump recently, his 18-year-old granddaughter Kai asked him if there was a dream he was still trying to chase.

From Barron's • Nov. 3, 2025

Smart contracts can be buggy; custodial wallets can fail; and the underlying asset — whether a Treasury bill or a rental house — still carries its traditional risks.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 15, 2025

Which made him a natural as the tour guide on his family’s tundra buggy.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz