Infested with gnats or resembling gnats; characterized by gnats or annoying, pesky qualities.
From gnat (small flying insect) plus -y suffix. The -y suffix turns nouns into adjectives meaning 'full of' or 'resembling.' First recorded in the 1800s as English speakers needed words for gnat-filled conditions.
Before 'buggy' became the go-to word for computer glitches, it literally meant 'full of bugs'—and gnatty was the specific word for swarming gnats, showing how English reuses insect words for anything annoying!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.