Other forms: huskies
Husky means low and slightly hoarse in voice. A husky voice, husky with emotion, gone husky.
It is usually attractive rather than ill — a husky voice is a compliment where a hoarse one is a symptom — and it is what a voice goes when somebody is tired, emotional or has been shouting. In American use husky also describes a person who is big and solidly built. And a husky is the thick-coated sled dog, which is a different word from an Inuit source. Note huskiness.
1adjectivehuskyLow and slightly hoarse in voice.
“She said goodnight in a soft, husky voice.”
2nounthickA thick-coated sled dog.
“A team of huskies pulled the sled across the frozen lake.”
husky is a quality of voice, or a dog.
Husk plus -y, from the idea of a voice dry as a husk. The sled dog is unrelated, probably a shortening of an old word for Inuit.
Middle Dutch
husekijn — little house, core of fruit, case
Middle Low German
hûseken
Proto-Indo-European
*kawəs- / kawes- — cover
Proto-Germanic
*husǭ — covering, shell, leggings
Proto-West Germanic
*hosā
Old English
*husuc, *hosuc — little covering, sheath
Middle English
huske
English
husk
English, today
husky
Built from
From husk + y; in relation to voice, from the sense "dry as a husk" or "tough as a husk". husk comes from Middle English huske, husk (“husk”). Perhaps from Old English husuc, hosuc (“little covering, sheath”), diminutive of hosu (“pod, shell, husk”), from Proto-West Germanic hosā, from Proto-Germanic husǭ (“covering, shell, leggings”), from Proto-Indo-European kawəs- / kawes- (“cover”). If so, equivalent to hose + -ock. Alternatively from Middle Low German hûseken, hü̂seken (“little house, sheath”), Middle Dutch husekijn (“little house, core of fruit, case”), diminutive of huus (“house”). Compare Dutch huisje, German Häuschen*, both also used for “snailshell”.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA