pudgy
[puhj-ee]
- short and fat or thick: an infant's pudgy fingers.
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Also especially British, podgy.
Origin of pudgy
First recorded in 1830–40; origin uncertain
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pudgy
Contemporary Examples
He is a pudgy, bespectacled, homburg-wearing cuckold of a Sherlock in those fish-grey postwar years of 1970s England.
Iran’s Top Spy Is the Modern-Day Karla, John Le Carré’s Villainous MastermindMichael Weiss
July 2, 2014
The young, professional players indulged the pudgy kingpin as he kicked his ball around in the dirt.
A pudgy, bald man in a suit and sweater ensemble stands in an opening between two of the newly erected walls.
He was a pudgy young boy and eventually fell in with a bad crowd.
Mike Tyson Opens Up About His Rape Conviction, Brad Pitt, and Love of PinkberryMarlow Stern
November 6, 2013
Some hung-over mornings he looks into the mirror and finds a pudgy Nosferatu looking back at him.
Historical Examples
And she laughed and laughed, slapping her fat knee with a pudgy, ring-laden hand.
AthalieRobert W. Chambers
His pudgy fingers trembled about the pen as he scratched on the pad before him.
El DiabloBrayton Norton
She had a little baby, a new one, a pudgy red-looking thing.
The Beth BookSarah Grand
There was an odd expression of defiance overlaid with fear on his pudgy features.
The Lani PeopleJ. F. Bone
In the middle of the room stood the Elf, with pudgy hand extended.
The Shadow WitchGertrude Crownfield
pudgy
- a variant spelling (esp US) of podgy
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Word Origin
C19: of uncertain origin; compare earlier pudsy plump, perhaps from Scottish pud stomach, plump child
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for pudgy
adj.
also podgy, 1824, from colloquial pudge "anything short and thick" + -y (2). Perhaps related to pudsy "plump" (1754), possibly a diminutive of nursery word pud "hand, forepaw" (from 17c.). A connection with pudding also has been conjectured. In late 19c. often on lists of English local or dialectal words; sources also mention puddy, punchy, pluggy, pudget as relatives or variants. Related: Pudginess.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper