Rangy means tall, thin and long-limbed. A rangy young man, a rangy hound, rangy and quick across the ground.
It suggests loose easy movement rather than mere thinness, which is why it reads as a compliment. A rangy build is admired in athletes and in dogs bred to run over distance.
1adjectiverangyTall, thin and long-limbed.
“He was rangy enough to reach the top shelf without stretching.”
rangy is a quality.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)ker- (turn)
Old French
rengier
Middle English
rengen
English
range
English, today
rangy
Built from
From range + -y. range comes from Middle English rengen, from Old French rengier. From Middle English rengen, from Old French rengier (“to range, to rank, to order”), from the noun renc, reng, ranc, rang (“a rank, row”), from Frankish hring, from Proto-Germanic hringaz (“ring, circle, curve”). a doublet of ring.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA