Unknown, but probably originallyMog +-y, aScots or Northern English variant ofmaggie(“girl”), fromMaggie, a diminutive ofMargaret andMargery. First attested in reference to mongrel cats inCockney.
moggy (pluralmoggies)
- (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Adomesticcat,especially(depreciative or derogatory) anon-pedigree orunremarkablecat.
1911, John William Horsley,I Remember: Memories of a 'Sky Pilot' in the Prison and the Slum, page254:Cockney slang... ‘moggies’ for cats.
- (Scotland and Northern England regional, obsolete)Synonym ofgirl: afemalechild oryoungwoman.
1648, William Lilly,An Astrologicall Prediction of the Occurrances in England, Part of the Yeers 1648, 1649, 1650, page60:...expect not so fair an enemy asCromwel, nor such fair quarter as now is given thee:Jockey,Jemmy, andMoggy thy she-souldier, mustthan all to the sword...
1699, Edward Ward,The London Spy, volume I, page15:
- (Midlands and Northern England regional, derogatory, rare)Synonym ofslattern: anunkempt orbadly-dressedwoman.
- 1886, Robert Eden George Cole,A Glossary of Words Used in South-west Lincolnshire, s.v. "moggy":
- Moggy, a slattern, dressed out untidily: 'She did look amoggy.'
- (Midlands and Northern England regional, rare)Synonym ofscarecrow.
- (Midlands regional, rare)Synonym ofcalf.
- (Yorkshire) A kind ofcake made withginger,treacle, etc.
- (mongrel cat):mutt(mongrel dog)
Derived from theUnimog, a brand of rugged four-wheel drive trucks popular in rural areas of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
moggy (comparativemoremoggy,superlativemostmoggy)
- (South Africa, Zimbabwe, slang)Irrational,out of touch
2025 March 26, Khanyisile Ngcobo, “'Yoh! You're in the OED' – South Africa makes its linguistic mark”, inBBC[1]:Yoh! I'm so gatvol of this tjoekie and need a zol to handle thesemoggy people.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,2002..