Disgust

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Dr. Goodword
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Disgust

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:19 pm

• disgust •


Pronunciation: dis-gêstHear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, noun

Meaning: To provoke loathing, repulsion; to deeply offend.

Notes: This word has been completely Anglicized. It serves as both verb and noun without a suffix and the present participle, disgusting, serves as an adjective and action noun. In fact, the past participle is also used adjectivally, disgusted, to indicate the state of disgustingness.

In Play: As a verb, you might hear today's word in expressions like this: "Maude Lynn Dresser disgusted everyone at the party with the man she brought with her." It serves equally well as a noun: "The disgust only grew when he took off his shirt, put a lampshade on his head, and began bellowing the lyrics to the song everyone else was trying to dance to."

Word History: English borrowed today's Good Word from Old French desgoust "distaste; strong dislike, repugnance" (Modern French dégoût "distaste"), from desgouster "have a distaste for". This word is made up of des- "opposite of" + gouster "taste", handed down from Latin gustare "to taste". French inherited des- from Latin dis- "apart", which was passed down to Latin from PIE dis- "asunder, apart". Gustare was created from PIE geus-/gous- "to taste; to enjoy". This word also went into the making of Greek geuein "to taste", Latin gustus "taste" (whence English gusto), Irish gustu "taste", Albanian joshë "allure, enticement", Serbian and Croatian ukus "taste", Russian vkus "taste", and, perhaps, English kiss and German küssen "to kiss". (Now a bow to wordmaster William Hupy for recommending his 161st published Good Word since 2006.)
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