Etymology

loathsome

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Today it means: Highly offensive; abominable, sickening. Full definition →

Middle English lothsum ← Old English *lāþsum ← Proto-West Germanic *laiþasam
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*laiþasam
  2. Old English · inherited from*lāþsum
  3. Middle English · inherited fromlothsum
  4. English todayloathsome

From Middle English lothsum, from Old English *lāþsum, from Proto-West Germanic *laiþasam, equivalent to loath + -some. Cognate with Middle Low German lêtsam (“arduous”), German leidsam (“sad, sorry”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.