ghastly

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gastlich, also gastli,^[2][3][4] formed from Middle English gasten (“to frighten, terrify”) + -lich.^[5][6][7][3] Etymonline and Barnhart take the first part as gast (“afraid”), the past participle of the verb.^[4][3] gasten is from Old English gǣstan (“to frighten, afflict, torment”),^[8][4][3][7] which Bosworth–Toller compares with Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usgaisjan, “to frighten”);^[8][9] it is also the source of aghast.^[10][7][11] The spelling with “gh-”, after ghost, with which the word was often confused, appears in Spenser's “Faerie Queene” (1590) and became general after him.^{[3][10][6][7]} Ayto stresses that despite the likeness in form and sense, ghastly is not related to ghost,^[10] but Merriam-Webster, Collins and Klein derive it instead from gāstlīc (“spiritual”), the source of ghostly.^[12][13][14] Barnhart notes that a single Old English gæstlic is recorded, of debated meaning.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Causing terror, terrible, horrible: about 1300, in the South English Legendary's life of St Christopher, of a giant so gastliche that people could hardly bear to look at him.^[2][5] Barnhart dates gastlich to probably before 1300 and gastli to before 1325, in the Cursor Mundi.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The early sense, causing real terror, weakened in modern use to suggesting the horror of death or carnage.^[5][6] Under the influence of ghost the word came to mean like a spectre or a corpse, deathly pale, from 1574,^[5][7] and was used of a forced smile from 1576.^[5] Spenser also used it for "full of fear" (1590), a sense that died out by 1634.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "like a ghost", pale, dreadful, dismal.^[15] The colloquial use for anything objectionable or "frightful", and for feeling very unwell, dates from the mid 19th century: the OED's first example is Thackeray in 1860.^[5][16][13] The adverb, as in ghastly pale, is recorded from 1589.^[5][3] In west Somerset dialect a ghastly house or job was untidy or dilapidated.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – causing terror, horrible (gastlich).^[2][5][4]
• 1574 – death-like, pale, wan.^[5]
• 1576 – of a smile or grin.^[5]
• 1589 – adverb, in a frightened manner; later, horribly.^[5][3]
• 1590 – the spelling with gh-, in Spenser; also full of fear (obsolete by 1634).^[3][5]
• 1653 – ghastly pale, deathly pale.^[5]
• 1860 – colloquial, shocking, objectionable.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (informal) Very bad or unpleasant: a ghastly mistake.^[13][5]
2. Suggesting the horror of death or violence; horrible, gruesome.^[13][12][5]
3. Pale like a ghost or a corpse; wan.^[13][12][5]
4. (informal) Feeling very ill.^[13]

Adverb

1. In a ghastly way; deathly: She looked ghastly pale after the climb.^[13][12][5]

Word family

• ghastliness
• ghast

Related words

• aghast
• ghost
• gast
• ghostly

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)