nasty
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnaː.sti/
ipa: /ˈnɑː.sti/
rhymes: -ɑːsti
ipa: /ˈnæs.ti/
rhymes: -æsti
Forms: form: nastier
form: nastiest
Etymology: From Middle English nasty, nasti, naxty, naxte (“unclean, filthy”), whence also Early Modern English nasky (“nasty”), of obscure origin. Probably from earlier Middle English *naskty, *naskedy, from Middle English *nasked (“dirty, messy”) + -y, ultimately of North Germanic origin (comparable to Danish nasket (“dirty, foul, unpleasant”), Swedish naskot (“dirty, filthy”), Swedish naskig, naskug (“nasty, dirty, messy”)), themselves all probably related to Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“tender, soft”). Likely doublet of nesh and nosh. Cognate with Scots nastie, nestie (“dirty, filthy”).
Alternative theories have also been proposed, which include:
* From Low German nask (“nasty”) + -y.
* Middle Dutch nestich, nistich ("nasty, dirty, unpleasant" > Modern Dutch nestig (“dirty, filthy, unclean; lazy, cranky”)), perhaps ultimately connected to the Scandinavian word above, or related to *nest (“nest”).
* From Old French nastre (“lowly, strange”), shortened form of villenastre (“infamous, bad”), from vilein (“villain”) + -astre (pejorative suffix), from Latin -aster.
* Other suggestions include Old High German naz (“wet”), hardening of English nesh(y) (“soft”), or alteration of English naughty.
* Modern use of the word is sometimes attributed to the popular and often derogatory 19th century American political cartoons of Thomas Nast, but the word predates him.
Senses: examples: text: In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.
ref: 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan:
text: I really don't have any friends at school Mama Mia. They talk about me all the time. They say my hair's nappy and my clothes are nasty.
ref: 2006, Marie Fontaine, The Chronicles of my Ghetto Street Volume One, page 156:
glosses: Dirty, filthy.
examples: text: Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty.
ref: 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:
glosses: Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person).
examples: text: ‘It's a nasty trade,’ said Mr. Limbkins, when Gamfield had again stated his wish.
ref: 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive.
examples: text: He said to Mr. Tallboy he thought the headline was a bit hot. And Mr. Tallboy said he had a nasty mind.
ref: 1933, Dorothy L Sayers, Murder Must Advertise:
text: We want threesomes, blowjobs, and orgies. That's just the way it is. We want the good girl who's nasty in bed.
ref: 2009, Okera H, Be Your Priority, Not His Option, Mill City Press, published 2009, page 45:
glosses: Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd.
examples: text: She had said: "I love the block button on Twitter. I don't know how people expect to send a nasty comment and not get blocked."
ref: 2012 June 3, The Guardian:
glosses: Spiteful, unkind.
examples: text: There was a nasty period during the First World War when the family's allegiance was called into question - not least because one of the Schroders had been made a baron by the Kaiser.
ref: 2007 August 5, The Observer:
glosses: Awkward, difficult to navigate; dangerous.
examples: text: Moving into the middle ages, William the Conqueror managed to rout the English and rule the country, then see off numerous plots and assassination attempts, before his horse did for him in a nasty fall, killing him at 60.
ref: 2012 March 2, James Ball, The Guardian:
glosses: Grave or dangerous (of an accident, illness etc.).
examples: text: "Well," she grinned, looking hot and sexy. "They say you doing some real nasty shit in the NBA, but on the mic you a little too competitive. They say you a gaming niggah who likes to keep up all kinds of go-to-war gangsta friction between rappers. That shit must work for you though, huh? You stickin' all over the charts when other artists are failin' off. They rotating your cuts on the radio like mad too."
ref: 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 15:
glosses: Formidable, terrific; wicked.
Synonyms: beastly
Derived terms: bag nasty
box nasty
cheap and nasty
cut up nasty
dry as a nun's nasty
feminasty
Jack Nasty
nastily
nastiness
nastyass
nastygram
Nasty Pelosi
purple nasty
something nasty in the woodshed
talk nasty
unnasty