tatty

¹ American  

[tat-ee] / ˈtæt i /

adjective

tattier, tattiest

1. cheap or tawdry; vulgar.

   a tatty production of a Shakespearean play.

2. shabby or ill-kempt; ragged; untidy.

   an old house with dirty windows and tatty curtains.

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tatty ² American  

[tat-ee] / ˈtæt i /

Or tattie

noun

• tatties
  plural

1. (in India) a screen, usually made of coarse, fragrant fibers, placed over a window or door and kept moistened with water in order to cool and deodorize the room.

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tatty British  

/ ˈtætɪ /

adjective

1. worn out, shabby, tawdry, or unkempt

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tattiness
  noun
• tattily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tatties
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of tatty¹

1505–15; tat rag (probably back formation from tatter ¹ ) + -y ¹

Origin of tatty²

First recorded in 1785–95, tatty is from the Hindi word ṭaṭṭī

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tatty tatties

Sophie lives by herself in a small, tatty apartment that belongs to her vile ex-husband, Paul.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

If, as he spends the book insisting, all he and Meghan ever wanted was domestic simplicity — tatty sofas, Ikea lamps — then why, upon leaving the family, did they buy a $15 million house?

From Washington Post ● Jan. 13, 2023

We know that actors are not their roles, but it still came as a shock to see Angela Lansbury backstage in bunny slippers and a tatty robe, offering visitors a nice hot cuppa.

From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2022

"The children have absolutely nothing or very few things - a tatty party pack of cards and a really scruffy little teddy - but they were lovely and they just got on with it."

From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2022

A crude pair of salt-dice and a single, tatty shoe that was too small for me, but that I hoped to trade for something else.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

"Shetland tatties are very plentiful and very available. Shetland tatties are my favourite source of carbohydrate without a shadow of a doubt. Getting other sources of carbohydrates is extremely difficult."

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

Yes, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer tucked in a bib and tucked into the haggis, accompanied by neeps and tatties, cute Scottish names for turnips and potatoes, mashed and buttered.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025

The “Haggis, Neeps & Tatties” — neeps and tatties are turnips and potatoes and haggis is, well, a lot of things — gets a rating of 3.4.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 6, 2021

The theme was Scottish, in honor of Carnegie, and, after a lunch of braised short ribs Balmoral and roasted tatties, Judy Woodruff, the PBS news anchor, began the ceremony.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 14, 2016

It’s all very tidy and pretty in a wifely way, but she’ll have dug up her geraniums to plant tatties for the War Effort.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

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