canty

adjective · 18th century

The perfect descriptor for the spirited elderly relative who outruns everyone.

Used to describe someone, typically an older person, who is cheerful, lively, and in good health.

In the wild

“Even at eighty, he remains as canty as a man half his age.”

Origin

A Northern English and Scottish word of obscure origin, likely related to the German kantig or similar concepts of vigor, appearing in 18th-century dialect collections.

Sources·Wright's English Dialect Dictionary/Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811)

Etymologist commentary·Michael Quinion, World Wide Words