sleepy

English

Etymology

sleep +‎ -y

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈsliːpi/
• Rhymes: -iːpi

Adjective

sleepy (comparative sleepier, superlative sleepiest)

1. Tired; feeling the need for sleep.

   Synonyms: tired; see also Thesaurus:sleepy

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     She wak'd her sleepy crew.

2. Suggesting tiredness.
   • 1994, Stephen Fry, The Hippopotamus Chapter 2

     At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.

3. Tending to induce sleep.

   Synonym: soporific

   a sleepy drink or potion

4. (figurative) Dull; lazy.

   Synonyms: heavy, sluggish

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     'Tis not sleepy business;
     But must be looked to speedily and strongly.

5. (figurative) Quiet; without bustle or activity.

   a sleepy English village

   • 2021 August 30, “Armed robbers take hostages in deadly bank raids in Brazil city”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Experts believe a pandemic welfare programme for poorer Brazilians has encouraged robbers to plan bold raids in sleepy regional cities where bank branches are storing more cash.

   • 2022 September 23, Pjotr Sauer, Dan Sabbagh, “Border queues build as people flee Russia to escape Putin’s call-up”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Usually sleepy border crossings into Kazakhstan and Mongolia have also been overwhelmed by the sudden influx of Russians looking for a way out.

Translations

feeling the need for sleep

• Albanian: përgjumur (sq)
• Arabic: نَعْسَان (naʕsān), نَاعِس (nāʕis)

  Egyptian Arabic: نعسان (naʿsān)

  Hijazi Arabic: نعسان (naʿsān)

• Aromanian: somnos
• Bulgarian: сънлив (bg) (sǎnliv)
• Catalan: somnolent
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 眼瞓／眼𰥛 (ngaan⁵ fan³)

  Mandarin: 昏昏欲睡 (zh) (hūnhūnyùshuì), 睏／困 (zh) (kùn), 困 (zh) (kùn), 瞌睡 (zh) (kēshuì), 睏倦／困倦 (zh) (kùnjuàn), 困倦 (zh) (kùnjuàn)

  Min Nan: 啄龜／啄龟 (zh-min-nan) (tok-ku), 盹瞌睡 (zh-min-nan) (tuh-ka-tsuē), 愛睏／爱困 (zh-min-nan), 爱困 (ài-khùn)

  Teochew:

• Czech: ospalý (cs) m
• Danish: søvnig (da), træt (da)
• Dutch: slaperig (nl)
• Esperanto: dormema
• Estonian: unine
• Finnish: uninen (fi), unelias
• French: somnolent (fr) m, ensommeillé (fr) m, ensuqué (fr)
• Galician: durmiñento
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: schläfrig (de)
• Greek: νυσταγμένος (el) (nystagménos), νυσταλέος (el) (nystaléos)

  Ancient: νυσταλέος (nustaléos), ὑπνωτικός (hupnōtikós)

• Hebrew: מנומנם (menumnam)
• Hungarian: álmos (hu)
• Icelandic: syfjaður, þreyttur (is)
• Indonesian: mengantuk (id), ngantuk
• Irish: codlatach, suanmhar, néalmhar
• Italian: assonnato (it), sonnolento (it)
• Japanese: 眠い (ja) (ねむい, nemui), 眠たい (ねむたい, nemutai)
• Kazakh: ұйқышыл (ūiqyşyl)
• Khmer: ងងុយដេក (ŋɔŋuy deɛk)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 졸리다 (ko) (jollida)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خەو ھاتن (xew hatin)

• Kyrgyz: уйкучул (uykucul)
• Latin: sopōrus, somnolentus, somniculōsus
• Latvian: miegains
• Lithuanian: mieguistas
• Lushootseed: ʔəxʷʔitutəb
• Malay: mengantuk
• Maori: hāmoemoe, turamoe, hinamoe, ohere
• Mbyá Guaraní: opeýi
• Mongolian: нойрмог (mn) (nojrmog)
• Navajo: bił nízin
• Norwegian: trøtt (no), døsig, søvnig (no)

  Bokmål: trett

  Nynorsk: søvnug

• Plautdietsch: schleeprich
• Polish: senny (pl), śpiący (pl)
• Portuguese: sonolento (pt), com sono
• Romanian: somnoros (ro), somnolent (ro) m or n
• Russian: со́нный (ru) (sónnyj), сонли́вый (ru) (sonlívyj), за́спанный (ru) (záspannyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: suaineach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: поспан, сањив, дремљив

  Roman: pospan (sh), sanjiv (sh), dremljiv (sh)

• Shor: уйғулығ (uyğulığ)
• Spanish: sueño (es), cansado (es), adormecido (es), soñoliento (es) m
• Swedish: trött (sv), sömnig (sv), pömsig (sv)
• Tagalog: inaantok
• Tamil: மந்தமான (ta) (mantamāṉa)
• Thai: เหนื่อย (th) (nʉ̀ai), ง่วง (th) (ngûuang)
• Tibetan: གཉིད་བྲོ (gnyid bro)
• Welsh: cysglyd (cy)
• Yiddish: שלעפֿעריק (shleferik)
• Zhuang: suiz

suggesting tiredness

• Bulgarian: сънен (bg) (sǎnen)
• Finnish: uninen (fi), väsynyt (fi)
• French: endormi (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

quiet; without bustle or activity

• Bulgarian: заспал (bg) (zaspal)
• Finnish: unelias, hiljainen (fi)
• Galician: durmiñento
• German: verschlafen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Noun

sleepy (uncountable)

1. (informal) The gum that builds up in the eye; sleep, gound.
   • 1964, Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion:

     "Did he always leave the sleepy in his eyes?" "Never removed it; let it build up in the comers of his eyes over the weeks until it was heavy enough to fall […]

   • 1991, Martin Amis, London Fields:

     But the nightdress was heavy, the sleepy in her eyes was heavy, her hair (she made a mustache of one of its locks) was heavy and smelled of cigarettes […]

   Synonym: (which see for more) sleep

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