Askew

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /əˈskju/

Definitions

1. Not straight or level; tilted or crooked to one side
2. Positioned unevenly or off-center in a way that disrupts balance
3. Set at an angle or slant that causes something to appear off its normal alignment

Etymology: The phrase "on skew" is the key to "askew." Its first part, "a-," is the old English preposition "on," which was worn down over centuries into a light prefix, so "askew" literally means "on the skew." The second part, "skew," entered English from Old French or a related Scandinavian-influenced source, and it originally meant "oblique" or "sideways," which is why a thing set at an angle is said to sit askew. The word's history shows the same gradual wearing-down seen in many English prefixes. The "a-" that once meant "on" also survives in words like "aboard" and "ashore," where it similarly fused onto a noun or adjective. Over time speakers stopped hearing "on" in "askew," and the phrase became a single unit describing crookedness or misalignment.

Synonyms: crooked, awry, lopsided, tilted, slanted

Antonyms: straight, even, aligned, level, correct