Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Musty |
MustyAdjective1. Covered with or smelling of mold; "moldy bread"; "a moldy (or musty) odor". 2. Stale and unclean smelling. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "musty" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Note: Musty \Mus"ty\, adjective. [Comparative Mustier; superlative Mustiest.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonyms: MustySynonyms: frowsty (adj), fusty (adj), moldy (adj), mouldy (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Impurity | Concupiscent, prurient, lickerish, rampant, lustful; carnal, carnal-minded; lewd, lascivious, lecherous, libidinous, erotic, ruttish, salacious; Paphian; voluptuous; goatish, must, musty. |
Uncleanness | Decayed, moldy, musty, mildewed, rusty, moth-eaten, mucid, rancid, weak, bad, gone bad, etercoral, lentiginous, touched, fusty, effete, reasty, rotten, corrupt, tainted, high, flyblown, maggoty; putrid, putrefactive, putrescent, putrefied; saprogenic, saprogenous; purulent, carious, peccant; fecal, feculent; stercoraceous, excrementitious; scurfy, scurvy, impetiginous; gory, bloody; rotting; Verb: rotten as a pear, rotten as cheese. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Musty |
| English words defined with "musty": Foisty, Frouzy, Frowy, Fust ♦ Hoared ♦ moldy, mouldy, Mucid, Mustily ♦ Rafty ♦ Vinnewed. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "musty": 2,4,6-trichloroanisole ♦ GRAIN PICKER ♦ Rusty-Fusty ♦ Transit Computerisation Project, Construction and Initial Implementation Phase. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "musty": Fenowed, Foisty, Frouzy ♦ Hoared ♦ Mizzy, Mucilage, Mucor. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | A little musty, not so scary! (VeggieTales: Where's God When I'm S-Scared?; writing credit: Norma Marcos) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Musty Musketeers (1954) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
William Shakespeare | The proverb is something musty. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Musty" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.29% of the time. "Musty" is used about 141 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.29% | 140 | 26,789 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.71% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 141 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "musty" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Musty | Last name | 100 | 80,732 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "musty": become musty ♦ grow musty ♦ musty taste ♦ smell musty. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "musty": musty-looking, musty-smelling, musty-sweet. | |
Ending with "musty": half-musty. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "musty"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | me erë myku, i mykur (frowsty, frowsy, frowzy, fusty, moldy, mouldy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | متعفن (moldy, mouldy, putrescent, putrid), متخلفة, عفن (corrupt, decay, decompose, frowsty, fusty, mildew, mold, mould, obnoxious, putrefaction, putrefy, putrid, rank, reek, rotten, septic, spoilt, stale, taint), عتيق (age-old, ancient, fossil, hoary, old, old fashioned, out of date, passe, prim, superannuated, time honored, time worn, used), بال (decomposed, decrepit, fossil, mangy, old fashioned, outmoded, outworn, rotten, shabby, stale, threadbare, tired, trite, well worn, worn, worn out). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | остарял (antiquated, dated, dead, extinct, grown old, hoary, moldy, moss-grown, mouldy, obsolete, old, out of date, outdated, outworn, passe, played out, prehistoric, primitive, rusty, superannuated, worm-eaten), отживял (antiquated, dated, obsolete, out of date, quaint, time worn), мухлясал (fusty, moldy, mouldy), плесенясал (foxy, mildewy, moldy, mouldy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 发霉 (Mouldy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | plesnivý (fusty, Gray, grey, mouldy, rusty). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | mugsmag (mouldy taste, musty taste). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | vunzig (dirty, filthy, moldy, mouldy, nasty, soiled, unclean), vuns (moldy, mouldy), muf (moldy, mouldy, stale), duf (moldy, mouldy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | mucida (moldy, mouldy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | moðin (mouldy), hýggiskotin (mouldy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | پوسیده (Frowzy, Rotten, Ruttish), کپک زده , کهنه (Ancient, Antique, Archaic, Bygone, Clout, Dead, Gray, Lint, Obsolescent, Obsolete, Old, Olden, Pokey, Ragged, Rundown, Shabby, Tacky, Timeworn, Wad), بوی ناگرفته (Stale). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | ummehtunut (close, stale, stuffy), homeinen (mildewed, mouldy), homehtunut (mildewed, mouldy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | moisi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | muffig (fustily, grumpy, mustily, smelly, sniffy, stale, unventilated), miffig, dumpfig (damp, dank, moldy, mouldy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | μπαγιάτικοσ (fusty, stale), μουχλιασμένοσ (fusty, mildewy, moldy, mouldy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מעופש (fusty, mouldy, muggy, rotten), עבש (mildewed, moldy, mouldy), טחוב (damp, dank, humid, moist). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | penészes (fusty, mildewed, mildewy, moldy, mouldy), dohos (damp, frouzy, frowzy, fusty, moldy, mouldy, stuffy), idejétmúlt (fusty, obsolete, outdated, outmoded, outworn, played out, to be out of favour). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | pengap (stuffy), apak (moldy, sweaty). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | stantio (fusty, stale), ammuffito (fusty, moldy, mouldy), ammuffire (grow musty, Mold, mould). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 黴臭い (putrid), かび臭い (putrid, wife). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | かびくさい (putrid). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 진부한 (stereotypic, stereotypical). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | lheeah (grey, grey- or white-haired, grey-headed, hoary, mould, silver), keoyeeagh (fulsome). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ustymay bolorento (frowzy, fusty, moldy, mouldy, rusty, stale). (various references) mucegãit (antiquated, mildewy), stãtut (aged, close, dead, flat, frowzy, sour, stale, stuffy), searbãd (flat, insipid, tasteless, tedious, vapid), prãfuit (dusty, old fashioned, stale), plicticos (boring, bothersome, dryasdust, dull, humdrum, lifeless, ponderous, stodgy, tedious, toilsome, vapid, wearisome), fad (mawkish, tasteless, vapid), colbãit (dusted, dusty), învechit (antediluvian, antiquated, back, crusted, dated, disused, grey headed, inveterate, lapsed, obsolescent, obsolete, old, old fashioned, out of date, outdated, outworn, passe, rusty, stale, superannuated, threadbare), încins (fiery, fusty, girded, hot). (various references) косный (mandarin, rigid, stagnant), заплесневелый (moldy, mouldy). (various references) ustajao (logged, stagnant, stale), buđav (mildewy, moldy, mouldy), bajat (stale). (various references) mohoso (fusty, mildewed, moldy, mouldy, rusty). (various references) unken (frowsty, frowsy, frowzy, fusty, stale, whiffy), möglig (foxy, mildewy, moldy, mouldy). (various references) küflenmiş (moldy, mouldy), küflü (mildewy, moldy, mouldy), küf kokulu (dank, frowsty, frowzy, fusty, nosey, nosy, smelling moldy, smelling mouldy, stuffy), köhne (effete, fossil, fusty, old, ramshackle, ratty, rickety, tumbledown, worn). (various references) застарілий (antiquated, antique, archaic, chronic, decrepit, demoded, fossil, fusty, inveterate, moldy, mouldy, obsolete, old, old fashioned, old hat, oldfangled, ole, out of date, outdated, outmoded, outworn, over age, overworn, passe, played out, rusty, superannuated, time worn, worm-eaten), запліснявілий (moldy, mouldy). (various references) mốc (mould), có mùi mốc. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | mucidus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Musty" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: husty, Justy, masti, Matsuyo, Mistry, moisty, Mosby, mosti, mosty, motty, moty, multyn, Munty, Murty, Mushtq, musnt, musshy, musta, muste, musth, mustt, mutie, Mutry, Mutsu, mutti, muty, Muzny, mysty, ousty. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "musty" (pronounced mu"stē) |
| 4 | -u" s t ē | crusty, dusty, gusty, lusty, rusty, trusty. |
| 3 | -s t ē | amnesty, angioplasty, Beastie, bloodthirsty, Christie, Christy, dishonesty, dynasty, feisty, frosty, hasty, honesty, majesty, misty, modesty, nasty, sixty, tasty, testy, thirsty, travesty, twisty. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "m-s-t-u-y" | |
-1 letter: must, muts, smut, stum. | |
-2 letters: mus, mut, sty, sum, uts, yum. | |
-3 letters: mu, my, um, us, ut. | |
| Words containing the letters "m-s-t-u-y" | |
+1 letter: smutty, stumpy, thymus. | |
+2 letters: mustily, smutchy. | |
+3 letters: costumey, mucosity, musketry, mustardy, mystique, smuttily, summitry, thymuses, yttriums, yummiest. | |
+4 letters: costumery, customary, myomatous, mystiques, nystagmus, sublimity, subsystem, sumptuary, syncytium, tautonyms, timeously, tympanums. | |
+5 letters: antonymous, eurythmics, eurythmies, luminosity, mosquitoey, multistory, musicality, mutinously, mystagogue, mysterious, myxomatous, pterygiums, pyrethrums, seminudity, subsystems, timorously, ytterbiums. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4D 75 73 74 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-- ..- ... - -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001101 01110101 01110011 01110100 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)M u s t y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004D 0075 0073 0074 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4787858691 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
