ugly

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʌɡ.li/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English uglike, ugli, borrowed from Old Norse uggligr (“dreadful, to be feared”),^[2][3][4] from uggr (“fear, dread”), perhaps related to agg “strife, hate”, and -ligr (“-like”).^[2][3][5] Among words for this idea, ugly is unusual in coming from a root meaning “fear”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Frightful or horrible in appearance: about 1250, as uglike, in Genesis and Exodus.^[3][2][6]

Semantic evolution

It once had a stronger meaning than now, frightful or horrible.^[7] “Morally offensive, vile” is attested from about 1300.^[2][3] The meaning softened to “very unpleasant to look at” by about 1375.^[3][2] Threatening danger, as in an ugly situation, is from the 1650s, and ill-tempered from the 1680s.^[2] The noun, an ugly person, is from 1755.^[2] An ugly duckling is from Hans Christian Andersen's tale, translated into English in 1846, and was used of people by 1877,^[2][7] and ugly American from a 1958 book title.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – frightful.^[3][6]
• c. 1300 – morally offensive.^[2]
• c. 1375 – unpleasant to look at.^[3]
• 1650s – threatening.^[2]
• 1877 – ugly duckling.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Unpleasant to look at; not attractive.
2. Unpleasant or offensive: war is ugly.
3. Threatening or dangerous: an ugly situation.
4. Bad-tempered or hostile: an ugly mood.

Word family

• uglily
• ugliness
• superugly
• uglify
• plug-ugly
• ugly American
• ugly customer

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press