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loath

Pronunciation: /ləʊθ/

The English word “loath” has 3 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling. Always followed by a verbal phrase.
  2. Angry, hostile.
  3. Loathsome, unpleasant.

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)…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.