manky
/ˈmaŋki
/adjective (mankier, mankiest) British informal
1Inferior; worthless: he wanted recruits for his manky bee-keeping society...
- The titles mask more than mere manky hanky panky.
- I like being able to work in a manky dressing gown.
- After all, a manky mascara can't do much damage, can it?
2Dirty and unpleasant: the man in the manky mackintosh...
- It was absolutely manky; it was filthy, the engine room, a disgrace actually.
- Now, if only somebody would do something about those manky, shabby, urban foxes which keep trashing my dustbin.
- Having completed the painting and got hardly any orange paint in my hair, I took a long hard look and realised that the kitchen tiles looked manky.
Origin
1950s: probably from obsolete mank 'mutilated, defective', from Old French manque, from Latin mancus 'maimed'.
This word meaning ‘inferior, worthless, off-colour’ is probably from obsolete mank ‘mutilated, defective’, from Old French manque ‘lack’, from Latin mancus ‘maimed’.