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Origin and history of distasteful

distasteful(adj.)

"unpleasant or disgusting to the taste," c. 1600, from distaste + -ful. Related: Distastefully; distastefulness.

also from c. 1600

Entries linking to distasteful

distaste(n.)

"want of taste or liking (for something)," 1590s, from dis- + taste (n.). Perhaps a nativizing of French desgoust or Italian disgusto, or from the obsolete verb distaste "to disrelish, dislike" (1580s).

-ful

word-forming element attached to nouns (and in modern English to verb stems) and meaning "full of, having, characterized by," also "amount or volume contained" (handful, bellyful); from Old English -full, -ful, which is full (adj.) become a suffix by being coalesced with a preceding noun, but originally a separate word. Cognate with German -voll, Old Norse -fullr, Danish -fuld. Most English -ful adjectives at one time or another had both passive ("full of x") and active ("causing x; full of occasion for x") senses.

It is rare in Old English and Middle English, where full was much more commonly attached at the head of a word (for example Old English fulbrecan "to violate," fulslean "to kill outright," fulripod "mature;" Middle English had ful-comen "attain (a state), realize (a truth)," ful-lasting "durability," ful-thriven "complete, perfect," etc.).

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    repellent
    also repellant, "having the effect of repelling," 1640s, from Latin repellentem (nominative repelens), present participle of repellere (see repel). Originally of medicines that reduce tumors; the meaning "morally repelling, repulsive, distasteful, disagreeable" is recorded by 179
    revolting
    1590s, "rebellious, that revolts, given to revolt," present-participle adjective from revolt (v.). The sense of "repulsive" is from 1749 (implied in revoltingness), from the verb in a sense of "cause to turn away in abhorrence or disgust" (also "rise in repugnance" against, "turn
    euphemism
    In English, a rhetorical term at first; broader sense of "choosing a less distasteful word or phrase than the one meant"...
    tally-ho
    also tallyho, huntsman's cry to alert others that the game has been spotted, 1772, earlier in the name of a roistering character in English theater, Sir Toby Tallyho (Foote, 1756), apparently altered from French taiaut, cry used in deer hunting (1660s), from Old French taho, tiel
    steward
    Middle English steuard, steward, "official in charge of the domestic affairs of a (large) household," from Old English stiward, stigweard "one who has charge of the affairs of the household or estate of another," from stig "hall, pen for cattle, part of a house" (see sty (n.1)) +
    vampire
    spectral being in a human body who maintains semblance of life by leaving the grave at night to suck the warm blood of the living as they sleep, 1732, vampyre, from French vampire (18c.) or German Vampir (1732, like the English word first in an account of Hungarian vampires), fro
    news
    late 14c., "new things," plural of new (n.) "new thing" (see new (adj.)); after French nouvelles, which was used in Bible translations to render Medieval Latin nova (neuter plural) "news," literally "new things." The English word was construed as singular at least from the 1560s,
    turpitude
    "depravity, infamy, inherent baseness or vileness," late 15c., from Old French turpitude (early 15c.), from Latin turpitudinem (nominative turpitudo) "baseness," from turpis "vile, foul, physically ugly, base, unsightly," figuratively "morally ugly, scandalous, shameful," a word
    simile
    "a comparison of two things in rhetoric or poetry," late 14c., from Latin simile "a like thing; a comparison, likeness, parallel," neuter of similis "like, resembling, of the same kind" (see similar). They must have notable points in common, both things must be mentioned, and the
    enough
    c. 1300, from Old English genog "sufficient in quantity or number," from Proto-Germanic compound *ganog "sufficient" (source also of Old Saxon ginog, Old Frisian enoch, Dutch genoeg, Old High German ginuog, German genug, Old Norse gnogr, Gothic ganohs). First element is Old Engli

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