odious

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English odious,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman odious, also odiose, recorded from the 13th century, and Middle French odieus,^[4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin odiōsus (“exciting hatred, offensive, unpleasant”),^[4][6][7][2] from odium (“hatred”) and the suffix -ōsus.^[4][8] The noun is related to ōdī (“I hate”),^[5][9] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *eod-io- (“hatred”), comparing Old English atol (“evil, dire, horrid, loathsome”) and Old Norse atall.^[7] The French word, now odieux, is recorded from 1376 in a phrase meaning to feel hatred for someone, and only from 1549 in the sense "exciting hatred".^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Regarded with hatred, hated: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible (Deuteronomy),^[4][6] and late 14th century in Etymonline.^[7] Dictionary.com dates the word 1350–1400,^[8] while Collins puts it only in the 17th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The passive sense "hated" lasted until 1447, alongside the active sense "deserving or exciting hatred", recorded before 1387 in J. Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon, which is the sense still used.^[4] The MED shows the word extended to what is loathsome or hideous to look at, and to things merely disagreeable, such as ale, a smell or a bird's cry.^[2] Chaucer uses it once.^[11][12] Johnson (1755) gives "hateful; detestable; abominable".^[13] In the dialects of Shetland, Renfrewshire, Donegal and Cavan it became an intensifier meaning "exceedingly great", and as an adverb "exceedingly", much as terrible is used.^[14] Donegal speakers said ojus or ojious.^[14]

Timeline

• before 1382 – regarded with hatred, hated (obsolete after 1447).^[4][6]
• before 1387 – deserving of hatred, repugnant, also with to.^[4]
• 1806 – a pronunciation with /-dʒ-/ noted, in Walker.^[4]
• 1898 – in Shetland dialect, an intensifier, exceedingly great.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Deserving or arousing hatred or repugnance; hateful, offensive: Everyone at the firm found the new manager odious.^{[10][3][4][8]}
2. (Scotland and Ireland, dialect) Exceedingly great; also as an adverb, exceedingly: an odious heap of money.^[14]

Word family

• odiously
• odiousness
• unodious

Related words

• odium

Usage notes

A pronunciation with /-dʒ-/ is recorded in some early 19th-century sources, including Walker (1806), and in 1850 L. Hunt recalled objecting to the actor John Kemble's ojus.^[4] Dictionary.com lists the word among those confused with odorous and malodorous.^[8]

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Skeat, W. W., ed. (1894), The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. VI: Glossarial Index, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d 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)