Word.ws English Dictionary

navvie

navvie is the alternative form of navvy.

Meaning of navvy

Noun

navvy (plural navvies)

  1. (UK, historical) A laborer on a civil engineering project such as a canal or railroad.
    • Suppose two lads, fresh from school, go out into the world to earn their living; one becomes a navvy and one a clerk. In five years' time these two young men will probably be very different in appearance from one another. The navvy will have developed his muscles; he will be broad-built...1909, B. Lindsay, Stories of the Universe: Animal Life
  2. an unskilled laborer

See all 3 meanings of navvy

Forms of navvie

pluralnavvies

Origin of navvie

Clipping of navigator + -ie.

Questions about navvie

What is navvie the alternative form of?
Navvie is the alternative form of navvy.

Words near navvie in the dictionary

  1. navs
  2. Navsari
  3. NavStar
  4. navtemp
  5. navved
  6. navvie
  7. navvied
  8. navvies
  9. navving
  10. navvy
  11. navvying

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: navvie (page history and authors); navvy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “navvie.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/navvie. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.