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

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tatty tatties

Perhaps irony, like water for the swimming pool, is a resource that dries up seasonally in these parts, leaving only a dust bowl of surly resentment and some tatty deckchairs behind.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2023

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

"Noone can stop them," mused Fane on Gran Canaria island where colourful, abandoned migrant boats contain tatty shoes, sardine tins, plastic bottles and a life vest.

From Reuters ● Aug. 11, 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

Already the other women with her, the blonde in the short pink bed jacket with the tatty fur trim, has been appropriated, has entered the glass elevator, has ascended out of sight.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

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

Entering the premises, Clooney refused to be drawn on whether he would choose some traditional haggis, neeps and tatties, or a healthier chicken piri piri salad, telling the assembled media: “I’ll see what they’ve got.”

From The Guardian ● Nov. 12, 2015

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