Wordwyrt

ugliness

/ˈʌɡlinəs/UH-glee-nuhs
UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked
/ˈʌɡlinəs/UH-glee-nuhs

Meaningthe quality of being ugly

Common meaning: being unpleasant to look at

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Journey through time

  1. Old Norse (Icelandic)uggligr‘dreadful’source
  2. Middle Englishugly‘frightful’source
  3. Englishugly‘unpleasant to look at’
  4. Englishformed in English from uglyugliness‘being unpleasant to look at’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from ugly + -ness.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), UGLY, p.672 · scan

Source words

  • uggligr Old Norse (Icelandic) · source word “to be feared”

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