abhor

/æbˈhɔː/ab-HAWR
/æbˈhɔɹ/ab-HAWR

Meaningto shudder away from

Common meaning: to hate deeply

‘away, off’ + ‘to bristle’ → abhor

Journey through time

  1. Latinhorreō‘to bristle’
  2. Englishabhor‘to hate deeply’ · today

ab- also in: abortabuseaboundabruptabsorb

hor also in: horridhorrorhorrible

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin horreō ‘to bristle; to shudder’.

Did you know (Latin abhorrere is…): our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry ABHOR, p. 4 · dictionary scan

Did you know (Latin horrere, to…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry horreō, p. 864 · dictionary scan

Roots

  • horreō Latin “to bristle; to shudder”

Related words

horriblehorridhorror

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