Clammy means damp and cold in an unpleasant way. Clammy hands, clammy skin, a clammy morning.
It is what skin goes with fear, illness or shock, and cold clammy skin is a symptom clinicians take seriously as a sign of poor circulation. Of weather it means damp and close. It is always unwelcome — nothing pleasant is described as clammy. Note that the word comes from an Old English verb meaning to smear, so clammy is something stuck to you.
1adjectiveclammyDamp and cold in an unpleasant way.
“His hands were cold and clammy with nerves before the interview.”
clammy is a quality of cold dampness.
Clammy is from an old word clam plus -y, from Old English claeman, to smear or daub. German klamm means the same thing from the same root.
Old English
clǣman — to smear, bedaub
English, today
clammy
From clam + -y, from Old English clǣman (“to smear, bedaub”). Compare German klamm (“clammy”) and klemmen (“to be stuck, stick”). See also clam.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA