different between nasty vs evil

English

Etymology

From Middle English nasty, nasti, naxty, naxte (“unclean, filthy”), probably from Old Norse *nask- +? -y, whence also Early Modern English nasky (“nasty”). Compare Swedish naskig, naskug (“nasty, dirty, messy”), Swedish and Danish nasket (“dirty, foul, unpleasant”). Compare also Low German nask (“nasty”).

Alternative theories include:

• From Old French nastre (“bad, strange”), shortened form of villenastre (“infamous, bad”), from vilein (“villain”) + -astre (pejorative suffix), from Latin -aster.
• Middle Dutch nestich, nistich ("nasty, dirty, unpleasant"; > Modern Dutch nestig (“dirty, filthy, unclean”)), perhaps ultimately connected to the Scandinavian word above.
• Other suggestions include Old High German naz (“wet”), hardening of English nesh(y) (“soft”), or alteration of English naughty.
• Modern use of the word is sometimes attributed to the popular and often derogatory 19th century American political cartoons of Thomas Nast, but the word predates him.

Pronunciation

• (AusE) IPA^(key): /?na?.sti/
  • Rhymes: -??sti
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n??.sti/
  • Rhymes: -??sti
• (US) IPA^(key): /?næs.ti/
  • Rhymes: -æsti

Adjective

nasty (comparative nastier, superlative nastiest)

1. (now chiefly US) Dirty, filthy. [from 14th c.]
   • 2006, Marie Fontaine, The Chronicles of my Ghetto Street Volume One, p. 156:

     I really don't have any friends at school Mama Mia. They talk about me all the time. They say my hair's nappy and my clothes are nasty.

2. Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person). [from 15th c.]
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula:

     Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty.

3. Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive. [from 16th c.]
   • 1838, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist:

     ‘It's a nasty trade,’ said Mr. Limbkins, when Gamfield had again stated his wish.

4. Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd. [from 17th c.]
   • 1933, Dorothy L Sayers, Murder Must Advertise:

     He said to Mr. Tallboy he thought the headline was a bit hot. And Mr. Tallboy said he had a nasty mind.

   • 2009, Okera H, Be Your Priority, Not His Option, Mill City Press 2009, p. 45:

     We want threesomes, blowjobs, and orgies. That's just the way it is. We want the good girl who's nasty in bed.

5. Spiteful, unkind. [from 19th c.]
   • 2012, The Guardian, 3 Jun 2012:

     She had said: "I love the block button on Twitter. I don't know how people expect to send a nasty comment and not get blocked."

6. (chiefly Britain) Awkward, difficult to navigate; dangerous. [from 19th c.]
   • 2007, The Observer, 5 Aug 2007:

     There was a nasty period during the First World War when the family's allegiance was called into question - not least because one of the Schroders had been made a baron by the Kaiser.

7. (chiefly Britain) Grave or dangerous (of an accident, illness etc.). [from 19th c.]
   • 2012, James Ball, The Guardian, 2 Mar 2012:

     Moving into the middle ages, William the Conqueror managed to rout the English and rule the country, then see off numerous plots and assassination attempts, before his horse did for him in a nasty fall, killing him at 60.

8. (slang, chiefly US) Formidable, terrific; wicked. [from 20th c.]

Translations

Derived terms

• nastygram

Noun

nasty (plural nasties)

1. (informal) Something nasty.

2. (euphemistic, slang, preceded by "the") Sexual intercourse.
3. A video nasty.
   • 1984, ThirdWay (volume 7, number 5, page 17)

     In this way, it is hoped that the nasties will be dealt with, and the remainder regularized.

Derived terms

• do the nasty
• video nasty

References

Anagrams

• Ansty, Santy, Tansy, Yants, antsy, tansy

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?-v?l, ?-v?l, IPA^(key): /?i?v?l/, /?i?v?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?iv?l/
• Hyphenation: evil
• Rhymes: -i?v?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English yvel, evel, ivel, uvel, from Old English yfel, from Proto-West Germanic *ubil, from Proto-Germanic *ubilaz (compare Saterland Frisian eeuwel, Dutch euvel, Low German övel, German übel), from Proto-Indo-European *h?upélos (compare Old Irish fel (“bad, evil”), from Proto-Celtic *u?elos), diminutive of *h?wep(h?)-, *h?wap- (“treat badly”) (compare Hittite ???????????????? (huwapp-ⁱ, “to mistreat, harass”), ???????????????????? (huwappa-, “evil, badness”)), or alternatively from *upélos (“evil”, literally “going over or beyond (acceptable limits)”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo, *h?ewp- (“down, up, over”).

Adjective

evil (comparative eviller or eviler or more evil, superlative evillest or evilest or most evil)

1. Intending to harm; malevolent.
   • 1866, Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters, Chapter 47,^[1]

     For a good while the Miss Brownings were kept in ignorance of the evil tongues that whispered hard words about Molly.

   • 1916, Zane Grey, The Border Legion, New York: Harper & Bros., Chapter 10, p. 147,^[2]

     He looked at her shapely person with something of the brazen and evil glance that had been so revolting to her in the eyes of those ruffians.

   • 2006, Ng?g? wa Thiong'o, Wizard of the Crow, New York: Pantheon, Book Three, Section II, Chapter 3, p. 351,^[3]

     “Before this, I never had any cause to suspect my wife of any conspiracy.”

     “You mean it never crossed your mind that she might have been told to whisper evil thoughts in your ear at night?”

2. Morally corrupt.
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act III, Scene 3,^[4]

     Ah, what a sign it is of evil life,

     When death’s approach is seen so terrible.

   • 1848, Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Chapter 41,^[5]

     I had much trouble at first in breaking him of those evil habits his father had taught him to acquire […]

   • 1967, Chaim Potok, The Chosen, New York: Fawcett Columbine, 2003, Chapter 1, p. 14,^[6]

     To the rabbis who taught in the Jewish parochial schools, baseball was an evil waste of time […]

3. Unpleasant, foul (of odour, taste, mood, weather, etc.).
   • 1660, John Harding (translator), Paracelsus his Archidoxis, London: W.S., Book 7, “Of an Odoriferous Specifick,” p. 100,^[7]

     An Odoriferous Specifick […] is a Matter that takes away Diseases from the Sick, no otherwise then as Civet drives away the stinck of Ordure by its Odour; for you are to observe, That the Specifick doth permix it self with this evil Odour of the Dung; and the stink of the Dung cannot hurt, no[r] abide there […]

   • 1897, H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man, Chapter 18,^[8]

     He awoke in an evil temper […]

   • 1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, London: Macmillan, Part V, “Mazar-i-Sherif,” p. 282,^[9]

     It was an evil day, sticky and leaden: Oxiana looked as colourless and suburban as India.

   • 1958, Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana, Penguin, 1979, Part Four, Chapter 1, p. 125,^[10]

     He herded them into a small and evil toilet and then through a window.

   • 1993, Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries, Toronto: Random House of Canada, Chapter One, p. 39,^[11]

     Everyone in the tiny, crowded, hot, and evil-smelling kitchen […] has been invited to participate in a moment of history.

4. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act V, Scene 6,^[12]

     The owl shrieked at thy birth,—an evil sign;

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Deuteronomy 22.19,^[13]

     […] he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel:

   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes in Paradise Regain’d, to which is added Samson Agonistes, London: John Starkey, p. 89, lines 438-439,^[14]

     A little stay will bring some notice hither,

     For evil news rides post, while good news baits.

   • 1931, Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth, New York: Modern Library, 1944, Chapter 15, p. 122,^[15]

     “ […] with bandits and robbers roving over the land in these evil times of famine and war, how can it be said that this one or that stole anything? Hunger makes thief of any man.”

5. (obsolete) Having harmful qualities; not good; worthless or deleterious.

   an evil beast; an evil plant; an evil crop

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 7.18,^[16]

     A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.

6. (computing, programming, slang) undesirable; harmful; bad practice

   Global variables are evil; storing processing context in object member variables allows those objects to be reused in a much more flexible way.

Synonyms

• nefarious
• malicious
• malevolent
• wicked
• See also Thesaurus:evil

Antonyms

• good

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

evil (countable and uncountable, plural evils)

1. Moral badness; wickedness; malevolence; the forces or behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good.

   • The heart of the sons of men is full of evil.

2. Something which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; something which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; harm; injury; mischief.
3. (obsolete) A malady or disease; especially in combination, as in king's evil, colt evil.
   • He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched for the evil.

Antonyms

• good

Derived terms

Translations

References

Etymology 2

From Middle English yvel, evel, ivel, uvel (“evilly”), from Old English yfele, yfle (“evilly”), a derivative of the noun yfel (“evil”). Often reinterpreted as the noun in the later language (as in "to speak evil").

Adverb

evil (comparative more evil, superlative most evil)

2. (obsolete) wickedly, evilly, iniquitously
3. (obsolete) injuriously, harmfully; in a damaging way.
4. (obsolete) badly, poorly; in an insufficient way.

   It went evil with him.

Usage notes

This adverb was usually used in conjunction with speak.

References

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928) , “Evil, adv.”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume III (D–E), London: Clarendon Press, OCLC 15566697, page 350, column 2.

Anagrams

• Levi, Viel, live, veil, vile, vlei

Middle English

Etymology 1

Adjective

evil

1. Alternative form of yvel (“evil”)

Etymology 2

Adverb

evil

1. Alternative form of yvel (“evilly”)