From Old English/Norse 'drit' (excrement) + '-y' — literally 'covered in dung,' softened by centuries into general 'unclean.'
Covered or marked with an unclean substance; morally dishonest or unscrupulous; (of weather) rough and stormy; (of a colour) dull.
From Middle English 'dritty,' derived from Old English 'drit' or Old Norse 'drit' meaning 'excrement,' plus the adjective-forming suffix '-y.' The word literally meant 'excrement-covered' or 'filthy with dung.' It replaced the older Old English word 'fūl' (foul) as the standard adjective for physical uncleanliness. The Old Norse cognate 'dríta' (to defecate) reinforced the word in English after the Viking settlements. The root
'Dirty' literally means 'covered in excrement' — it derives from Old English/Old Norse 'drit' (dung, excrement) plus the suffix '-y.' The noun 'dirt' is actually a back-formation from the adjective 'dirty,' not the other way around. The original noun was 'drit,' and the modern 'dirt' emerged by metathesis (the 'r' and the vowel swapped