Word History: Since cushy has a breezy American ring, it is difficult to believe that it is an import, as some etymologists claim. Members of the British army in India are supposed to have picked up the Anglo-Indian version of the Hindi word ḳhuś, meaning "pleasant," to which the suffix -y, as in empty and sexy, was added to form a new English word. Cushy, however, was first recorded in a letter from the European battlefront during World War I. This fact, in conjunction with our inability to find an Anglo-Indian source, casts some doubt on the Hindi or Anglo-Indian origin of cushy. Two other possibilities are that cushy is a shortening of cushion with the -y suffix or that it is a borrowing of French couchée, "lying down; a bed."