Do you speak a little Scandinavian when you say 'spry'?

'Spry' is a word borrowed from Scandinavian 'sprækr'. The word entered the English language some time around 1746.

spry [adjective] [1746]

• nimble

See 'spry' on the Loan Words Map

See more loan words from Scandinavian.

note: From British dialectal sprey from Old Norse sprækr (“nimble lively”) from Proto-Germanic *sprēkiz (“lively”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)preg- (“to strew jerk sprinkle scatter”).
Etymology: origin unknown

See more loan words from 1700s.