raggedy adj.

of clothing or garments, "rough, shaggy," c. 1300 (late 12c. in surnames), past-participle adjective as though from a verb form of rag (n.1). Compare Latin pannosus "ragged, wrinkly," from pannus "piece of cloth." But ragged might reflect a broader, older meaning of the noun rag (n.1), perhaps from or reinforced by Old Norse raggaðr "shaggy," via Old English raggig "shaggy, bristly, rough" (which, Barnhart writes, "was almost surely developed from Scandinavian").

Of persons, "wearing tattered clothes," late 14c. From late 14c. of plants or leaves, "serrated." To run (someone) ragged is from 1915. Related: Raggedly; raggedness.

adjective suffix, "full of or characterized by," from Old English -ig, from Proto-Germanic *-iga- (source also of Dutch, Danish, German -ig, Gothic -egs), from PIE -(i)ko-, adjectival suffix, cognate with elements in Greek -ikos, Latin -icus (see -ic). Originally added to nouns in Old English; used from 13c. with verbs, and by 15c. even with other adjectives (for example crispy). Adjectives such as hugy, vasty are artificial words that exist for the sake of poetical metrics.

"rambling, straggling, disreputable," by 1930, from raggedy + ass (n.2). Such groups were known as raggle-taggle (adj.) by 1904.