Meaning

adjective having or as if having especially high-pitched spots

originFrom spike (“piece of pointed metal, etc.”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense “having the quality of”). Spike is derived from Middle English spik, spike (“large metal (usually iron) nail; thing shaped like such a nail”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Middle Dutch spiker (“large nail”), Middle Low German spiker (“large nail”), or Old Norse spík (“spike; sprig”), all…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0