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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

nosy.

Prying, inquisitive or curious in other’s affairs; tending to snoop or meddle.

4 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈnəʊziː/UK/ˈnoʊzi/US
  1. Prying, inquisitive or curious in other’s affairs; tending to snoop or meddle.

    They built tall fences, yet the nosy neighbors always seemed to know everything about them.
  2. Having a large or elongated nose.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English nose Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English nose Proto-Germanic *-j-, *-ij- Proto-West Germanic *-i, *-ī Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English nosy From nose + -y (adjectival suffix), or from nose + -y (diminutive suffix).

noun/ˈnəʊziː/UK/ˈnoʊzi/US
  1. A look at something to satisfy one's curiosity.

    UK · slang
    I might wander down to the construction site for a nosy at what they're building.
  2. A nose.

    childish · rare
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English nose Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English nose Proto-Germanic *-j-, *-ij- Proto-West Germanic *-i, *-ī Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English nosy From nose + -y (adjectival suffix), or from nose + -y (diminutive suffix).

verb/ˈnəʊziː/UK/ˈnoʊzi/US
  1. To pry into something.

    informal
    My brother always nosies into my diary.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English nose Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English nose Proto-Germanic *-j-, *-ij- Proto-West Germanic *-i, *-ī Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English nosy From nose + -y (adjectival suffix), or from nose + -y (diminutive suffix).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.