frumpy
/ˈfɹʌm.pi/adjective
frumpy is an adjective meaning “Dowdy, unkempt, or unfashionable” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-R-U-M-P-Y and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 5 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does frumpy mean?
adjective
- 1
Dowdy, unkempt, or unfashionable.
She came to the door in a frumpy housedress and bedroom slippers.
- 2
datedBad-tempered.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce frumpy?
- UK /ˈfɹʌm.pɪ/
- US /ˈfɹʌm.pi/
Frumpy has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-frumpy.ogg, En-au-frumpy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of frumpy
- frumpier comparative
- frumpiest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is frumpy?
Frumpy appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 68,248th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Frumpy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense dowdy, unfashionable:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | démodé |
| German | ohne jeden Schick, stillos |
| Portuguese | antiquado, ultrapassado, "démodé" |
| Spanish | mal vestido, sin gracia |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does frumpy come from?
Either from frump or from Middle English frumple + -y.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).