dingy

Etymology 1

From English dialectal (Kentish) dingy (“dirty”), of unknown origin, though probably from an unrecorded Middle English *dingy, *düngy, from Old English *dyncgiġ (“covered with dung, dirty”), an umlaut form of Old English duncge, dung (“dung”), equivalent to dung + -y.

adj

1. dark, dull
   The station has been refurbished both at ground level and below ground, where the wide, fluorescently lit platforms are an almost unrecognisable metamorphosis of the dingy, reeking Low Level of old. 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 713
2. shabby, squalid, uncared-for
   He led her at last into a dingy sanctum, dimly lighted by one shaded lamp. In this safe there were piles of dingy papers and more dingy ledgers ; with great piles of accounts on hooks in the wall 1854, Charles Dickens, Household Words
   She's looking from Tarquin to Fenella with shining eyes, and I look at the picture interestedly over her shoulder. But to be honest, I can't say I'm impressed. For a start it's really dingy – all sludgy greens and brown 2009, Sophie Kinsella, The Secret Dreamworld Of A Shopaholic: (Shopaholic Book 1)

Etymology 2

noun

1. Alternative form of dinghy