Lothsomnesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being so disgusting or hateful that it provokes strong aversion and revulsion in those who encounter it
2. Repulsiveness so extreme that it inspires deep disgust, the condition of being detestable to behold or experience
3. An archaic term for the state of being abhorrent, offensive, and worthy of strong contempt or revulsion

Etymology: The spelling reflects a word built in two stages. Old English "lāþ" meant "hostile" or "hateful," and adding "-sum," a suffix that made adjectives meaning "having the quality of," produced "lāþsum." Middle English kept that formation as "lothsom," which became modern "loathsome." The noun ending "-nesse" comes from Old English "-nes(s)," which turns an adjective into a noun for a state or quality, so the whole form is a regular stack of native parts rather than a borrowing. The surprise is mostly in the spelling. The "th" in "loath" once carried the voiced sound of "this" as well as the sound of "thin," and the modern split between the verb "loathe" and the adjective "loathsome" was still settling in the later Middle English period. Forms like this one, with a final "-nesse," were common then but were gradually replaced by "loathsomeness," so the term is now archaic.

Synonyms: repulsiveness, odiousness, hideousness

Antonyms: attractiveness, charm, beauty