scrawny
Skin and bones
Scrawny describes someone or something unattractively thin and bony: a scrawny kid with knobby knees, scrawny chickens pecking in the yard.
The word carries a hint of weakness or malnourishment—you wouldn't call a lean athlete scrawny.
It's mildly unflattering but not harsh.
Lacking proper nutrition
- undernourishedInsufficiently nourished
- starvedSuffering extreme hunger
- emaciatedAbnormally wasted from hunger
- famishedIntensely, painfully hungry
skeletal · wasted · pinched · sunken · haggard · drawn · cadaverous · withered
Thin, with protruding skeleton
- lankyTall and ungainly thin
- spindlyThin and fragile-looking
- ganglingLoosely built, awkward
- leanLacking fat; incline
slight · wiry · angular · slender · rangy · twiggy · gaunt · lank
Small and weak
undersized · small · pint-sized · slight · delicate · fragile · meager · underdeveloped
malnourished
Lacking proper nutrition
- undernourishedInsufficiently nourished
- starvedSuffering extreme hunger
- emaciatedAbnormally wasted from hunger
famished · skeletal · wasted · pinched · sunken · haggard · drawn · cadaverous · withered · shriveled
bony
Thin, with protruding skeleton
lean · slight · wiry · angular · slender · rangy · twiggy · gaunt · lank · stringy
puny
Small and weak
weakling · undersized · small · pint-sized · slight · delicate · fragile · meager · underdeveloped · wimpy