Nasty

Nasty

Adjective · /ˈnæs.ti/

Definition

Highly unpleasant, especially to the senses; causing or likely to cause physical harm; malicious or spiteful in behaviour or attitude; (informal) morally reprehensible; very bad or difficult.

Origin

Of uncertain origin — appearing in Middle English from the 14th century, possibly from Old French nastre (miserly, malicious, bad) or from Scandinavian sources, or possibly related to Swedish dialectal naskug (dirty, filthy). The etymology being genuinely uncertain. A word that has expanded in meaning from the physical (dirty, unclean) to the social (malicious, mean) to the general intensifier (a nasty situation, a nasty fall). Thomas Nashe being the Elizabethan pamphleteer and satirist whose surname happens to share the word's phonetic quality.