rickety

• ricketty, rickedy

From dialectal ricket (“unstable, rickety”) +‎ -y, and/or ricket (“to move noisily and in a reckless way”) +‎ -y.

Alternatively, and perhaps less likely, from rickets +‎ -y.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪk.ɪ.ti/, /ˈɹɪk.e.ti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkɪti, -ɪketi

rickety (comparative ricketier or more rickety, superlative ricketiest or most rickety)

1. Of an object: not strong or sturdy, as because of poor construction or upkeep; not safe or secure.

   Synonyms: precarious, rachitic, shaky, tottering, unsafe, unstable, unsteady, wobbly

   He hesitated about climbing such a small, rickety ladder.

2. (of a person) Feeble in the joints; tottering.

   The rickety old man hardly managed to climb the stairs.

3. (pathology) Affected with or suffering from rickets; rachitic.

• Trickey