mid-15c., "plump, stout, of great size," from bulk (n.) + -y (2). Often with a suggestion of "unwieldy, clumsy." Related: Bulkiness.
Entries linking to bulky
bulk n.
mid-15c., "a heap; the volume or bulk of something," earlier "ship's cargo" (mid-14c.), from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse bulki "a heap; ship's cargo," from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell."
The meaning was extended by early confusion with obsolete bouk "belly" (from Old English buc "body, belly," from Proto-Germanic *bukaz; see bucket), which led to sense of "size, volume, magnitude of material substance," attested from mid-15c. In bulk 1670s, "loaded loose." The meaning "the greater part" (of anything) is by 1711.
-y 2
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.