different between mountainy vs mountainous

English

Etymology

From mountain +? -y.

Adjective

mountainy (comparative more mountainy, superlative most mountainy)

1. (now chiefly Ireland) Mountainous. [from 16th c.]
   • 1925, Ford Madox Ford, No More Parades, Penguin 2012 (Parade's End), p. 292:

     His girl, who worked on a mountainy farm above Caerphilly, had written to him about a queer cow […].

   • 2013, Molly Keane, Time After Time

     The mountainy fields rose quietly outside it towards gorse and heather.

English

Etymology

From mountain +? -ous after Middle French montagneux, itself from montaigne or Late Latin mont?ni?sus, in turn from Latin mont?nus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ma?nt?n?s/

Adjective

mountainous (comparative more mountainous, superlative most mountainous)

1. Having many mountains; characterized by mountains; of the nature of a mountain; rough (terrain); rocky.
2. Resembling a mountain, especially in size; huge; towering.
3. (figuratively, of a problem or task) Very difficult.
4. (obsolete) Inhabiting mountains; hence, barbarous.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:gigantic

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• hilly