coltish · adj — resembling a colt, especially:; Lively, playful and undisciplined (often in a manner judged to be immature). It carries an Arena rating of 1581, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, coltish ranks #1,994 of 17,144 for Most Malleable Words, #2,119 of 17,146 for Most Vivid Words, #3,356 of 17,136 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #4,396 of 17,173 for Funniest Words.
Why “coltish” is a great word
Resembling a colt, especially in being lively, playful, and undisciplined, or tall, thin, and awkward. From Middle English *coltyssh* (c. 1386), by surface analysis from *colt* (a young male horse) + *-ish* (having the characteristics of). Unlike "graceful," which moves with smooth and controlled elegance, or "sedate," which implies a composed calm, coltish captures a charmingly unpolished exuberance. It is the teenager with limbs too long for his frame, tripping over his own feet; the sudden, frisky gallop across a sunlit field that ends in a skidding halt; the unfocused, joyful energy that spills in every direction—youth in its most unguarded, ungainly, and utterly alive form, a beautiful, awkward promise of a form not yet settled into itself.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From Middle English coltyssh. By surface analysis, colt + -ish.
adj
- Resembling a colt, especially:; Lively, playful and undisciplined (often in a manner judged to be immature).
- Resembling a colt, especially:; Tall, thin and awkward (especially of an older child or adolescent).e.g.“He had a tangle of shock hair, the colour of wool; his mouth was a grin; although as strong as a horse, he looked neither heavy nor yet adroit, only leggy, coltish, and in the road.” — 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Hunter’s Family”, in The Silverado Squatters, London: Chatto & Windus, page 138:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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