loath
UK /ləʊθ/ · US /loʊθ/ adjective
Also a form of loathe
Forms loather loathest loaths loathing loathed loth loathe
- adjective Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling. Always followed by a verbal phrase. “I was loath to return to the office without the Henderson file.”
- adjective (obsolete) Angry, hostile.
- adjective (obsolete) Loathsome, unpleasant.
Synonyms
averse disinclined reluctant unwilling loth antipathetic antipathetical indisposed
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English lōth (“loath; averse, hateful”), from Old English lāð, lāþ (“evil; loathsome”), or Old Norse leið, leiðr (“uncomfortable; tired”) from Proto-Germanic *laiþaz (“loath; hostile; sad, sorry”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyt- (“to do something abhorrent or hateful”).
The word is cognate with Danish led (“disgusting, loathsome; nasty”), Dutch leed (“sad; (Belgium) angry”), French laid (“ugly; morally corrupt”), Catalan lleig (“ugly”), Icelandic leiður (“annoyed, vexed; sad; (archaic or poetic) annoying, wearisome”), Italian laido (“filthy, foul; obscene”), Old Frisian leed, Old High German leid (Middle High German leit, modern German leid (“uncomfortable”), Leid (“grief, sorrow, woe; affliction, suffering; harm, injury; wrong”)), Old Saxon lêð, lēth (“evil person or thing”), Swedish led (“bored; tired; (archaic) disgusting, loathsome; evil”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Hateful; odious; disliked. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- adjective Filled with disgust or aversion; averse; unwilling; reluctant; as, loath to part.
Etymology [OE. looth, loth, AS. la hostile, odious; akin to OS. l, G. leid, Icel. lei, Sw. led, G. leiden to suffer, OHG. lidan to suffer, go, cf. AS. li to go, Goth. leipan, and E. lead to guide.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “loath”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details