ugly

English

Alternative forms

• ougly (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English ugly, uggely, uglike, from Old Norse uggligr (“fearful, dreadful, horrible in appearance”), from uggr (“fear, apprehension, dread”) (possibly related to agg (“strife, hate”)), equivalent to ug +‎ -ly. Cognate with Scots ugly, uglie, Icelandic ugglegur. Meaning softened to "very unpleasant to look at" around the late 14th century, and sense of "morally offensive" attested from around 1300.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (US)

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• IPA: /ˈʌgli/
• Rhymes: -ʌgli

Adjective

ugly (comparative uglier, superlative ugliest)

1. Displeasing to the eye; not aesthetically pleasing.
2. Displeasing to the ear or some other sense.
3. Offensive to one's sensibilities or morality.

   He played an ugly trick on us.

Related terms

• ug

Synonyms

• (displeasing to the eye): hideous, homely, repulsive, unattractive, uncomely, unsightly
• (displeasing to the ear or some other sense): displeasing, repulsive, unattractive
• (offensive to one's sensibilities or morality): corrupt, immoral, vile
• See also Wikisaurus:ugly

Antonyms

• (displeasing to the eye): attractive, beautiful, gorgeous, handsome, pretty, sightly
• (displeasing to the ear or some other sense): attractive, pleasing
• (offensive to one's sensibilities or morality): moral

Derived terms

• ugly duckling
• uglification
• uglify

Translations

displeasing to the eye; not aesthetically pleasing

• Arabic: قبيح (ar) (qabiiH), بشع (ar) (bashi3)
• Armenian: տգեղ (hy) (tgeġ), (colloquial, dialectal) գեշ (hy) (geš)
• Bengali: বিশ্রী (bn) (bisri)
• Catalan: lleig (ca) m, lletja (ca) f
• Chamicuro: mache'c̈homa
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 樣衰

  Mandarin: 難看 (cmn), 难看 (cmn) (nánkàn), 醜 (cmn) (chǒu), 媸 (cmn) (chī), 醜陋 (cmn), 丑陋 (cmn) (chǒulòu)

• Czech: ošklivý (cs), škaredý (cs)
• Dalmatian: brot
• Dutch: lelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: malbela (eo)
• Finnish: ruma (fi)
• French: laid (fr) m, laide (fr) f, moche (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: hässlich (de)
• Greek: άσχημος (el) (áschimos)
• Hindi: असुंदर (hi) (asundar) m
• Hungarian: csúnya (hu), ronda (hu)
• Ido: leda (io)
• Irish: gránna (ga)
• Italian: brutto (it) m, brutta (it) f
• Japanese: 醜い (ja) (みにくい, minikui), 見苦しい (ja) (みぐるしい, migurushii), 格好悪い (ja) (かっこわるい, kakkowarui)

• Jèrriais: laid
• Korean: 추악한 (ko) (chuak-han)
• Krio: wowoh
• Latin: dēfōrmis (la), foedus (la) m, turpis (la)
• Latvian: neglīts (lv)
• Lithuanian: baisus (lt)
• Macedonian: грд (mk) (grd) m
• Norwegian: stygg (no), frastøtende (no)
• Persian: زشت (fa) (zesht)
• Polish: brzydki (pl)
• Portuguese: feio (pt) m, feia (pt) f
• Romanian: urât (ro)
• Russian: безобразный (ru) (bezobráznyj), уродливый (ru) (uródlivyj), некрасивый (ru) (nekrasívyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: grànnda (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: ružan (sh)
• Slovak: škaredý (sk)
• Spanish: feo (es)
• Swedish: ful (sv)
• Urdu: بدسورت (ur) (badsūrat)
• Vietnamese: xấu (vi) (醜 (vi)), xấu xí (vi)
• Welsh: hyll (cy)
• Yiddish: מיאוס (yi) (mies)

displeasing to the ear or some other sense

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 難聽 (cmn), 难听 (cmn) (nántīng)

• Finnish: ruma (fi) (to ear); paha (fi) (to nose or taste)

• Hungarian: csúnya (hu)
• Norwegian: stygg (no), ekkel (no), vemmelig (no)
• Scottish Gaelic: grànnda (gd)

offensive to one's sensibilities or morality

• Finnish: ruma (fi)
• Indonesian: buruk (id), jelek (id)
• Latin: dēfōrmis (la)

• Norwegian: vemmelig (no), vond (no), stygg (no)
• Scottish Gaelic: grànnda (gd)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: i/e shemtuar (sq), i/e shpifur (sq)
• Danish: grim (da)
• Dutch: lelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: malbela (eo)
• Tagalog: panghet (tl)
• Korean: 추악한 (ko) (chuakhan)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ناشرین

• Persian: زشت (fa) (zesht)
• Romanian: urât (ro), slut (ro)
• Sardinian: feu (sc), lezzu (sc) m, fea (sc), lezza (sc) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: pyжан (sh) m

  Roman: ružan (sh) m

• Sicilian: làriu (scn) m, lària (scn) f
• Telugu: వికారమైన (te) (vikaaramaina)

Noun

ugly (countable and uncountable; plural uglies)

1. (slang, uncountable) ugliness
   • 2009: Lady Gaga and RedOne, "Bad Romance":

     I want your ugly / I want your disease.

2. (slang) An ugly person or thing.
3. (UK, informal, dated) A shade for the face, projecting from a bonnet.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Kingsley to this entry?)