sleepy

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English

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Etymology

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    Etymology tree
    Proto-Germanic *slēpaz
    Proto-West Germanic *slāp
    Proto-Indo-European *-kos
    Proto-Germanic *-gaz
    Proto-West Germanic *-g
    Proto-West Germanic *slāpag
    Old English *slǣpiġ
    Middle English slepi
    English sleepy

    From Middle English slepi, slepy, from Anglian Old English *slēpiġ (cognate with West Saxon *slǣpiġ, attested in unslǣpiġ (“not sleepy, sleepless”)), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpag (“sleepy”), equivalent to sleep +‎ -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian släipich (“sleepy”), West Frisian sliepich (“sleepy”), Middle Dutch slapig, slêpig, slapich (“sleepy”), Middle Low German slâpich, Middle High German slāfec (> archaic German schlafig (“sleepy”)).

    Pronunciation

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    • Audio (US):(file)
    • IPA(key): /ˈsliːpi/
    • Rhymes: -iːpi

    Adjective

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    sleepy (comparative sleepier, superlative sleepiest)

    1. Tired; feeling the need for sleep.
      Synonyms: tired; see also Thesaurus:sleepy
    2. Suggesting tiredness.
      • 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:
        At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.
    3. Tending to induce sleep.
      Synonym: soporific
      a sleepy drink or potion
      • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Edward the Second, […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 49, page 561, column 1:
        [T]he yong L. Roger Mortimer, […] hauing corrupted his Keepers, or (as ſome others vvrite) hauing potioned them vvith a ſleepy drinke, eſcaped out of the Tovver of London, getting ouer clearely vvithout any empeachment into France.
    4. (figurative) Dull; lazy.
      Synonyms: heavy, sluggish
    5. (figurative) Quiet; without bustle or activity.
      a sleepy English village
      • 2021 August 30, “Armed robbers take hostages in deadly bank raids in Brazil city”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
        Experts believe a pandemic welfare programme for poorer Brazilians has encouraged robbers to plan bold raids in sleepy regional cities where bank branches are storing more cash.
        (Can we archive this URL?)
      • 2022 September 23, Pjotr Sauer, Dan Sabbagh, “Border queues build as people flee Russia to escape Putin’s call-up”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
        Usually sleepy border crossings into Kazakhstan and Mongolia have also been overwhelmed by the sudden influx of Russians looking for a way out.
        (Can we archive this URL?)
      • 2023 March 8, Paul Salveson, “Fond farewells to two final trains...”, in Rail, number 978, page 54:
        Despite Horwich's international fame as a centre of railway engineering, Horwich station itself was usually quite a sleepy place.

    Alternative forms

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    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    Noun

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    sleepy (countable and uncountable, plural sleepies)

    1. (informal, uncountable or in the plural) The gum that builds up in the eye; sleep, gound.
      Synonym: (which see for more) sleep
      • 1964, Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion:
        "Did he always leave the sleepy in his eyes?" "Never removed it; let it build up in the comers of his eyes over the weeks until it was heavy enough to fall […]
      • 1991, Martin Amis, London Fields:
        But the nightdress was heavy, the sleepy in her eyes was heavy, her hair (she made a mustache of one of its locks) was heavy and smelled of cigarettes […]
    2. (Australia) Shingleback.

    Anagrams

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