Lothly

Part of speech: adjective, adverb

Definitions

1. Marked by an extreme level of unattractiveness or repugnance
2. Showing a strikingly disagreeable or ugly appearance that repels others
3. Possessing an exceptionally unattractive and displeasing look that causes aversion

Etymology: "Lothly" is a rare, archaic-sounding adjective that descends from an Old English adverb meaning "hatefully." Its root is "loth," which in Old English meant "hostile" or "odious" and later came to mean "unwilling," as in the modern phrase "loath to leave." The Old English word "lāþlīċe" combined that root with the suffix "-līċe," the source of modern "-ly," so the original sense was literally "in a hateful manner." Over the Middle English period the word shifted from describing how someone acted to describing how something looked. The adjective "lothly" came to mean loathsome in appearance, something that repels the eye rather than merely offends the mind. The adverb and adjective forms were never far apart, so a single word could describe a hateful action or a repulsive sight.