Resembling, covered with, or characteristic of heath; having the nature or appearance of heathland.
From 'heath' plus the adjectival suffix '-y' (Old English '-ig'). This straightforward formation allows many nouns to become descriptive adjectives describing something as having that quality.
English's '-y' suffix is incredibly productive—you can add it to almost any noun to mean 'full of' or 'resembling' that thing, which is why we have words like 'sandy,' 'moody,' and 'heathy.' It's one of our most useful word-building tools.
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