different between wretched vs mesel

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wrecched, equivalent to wretch +? -ed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???t??d/

Adjective

wretched (comparative wretcheder or more wretched, superlative wretchedest or most wretched)

1. Very miserable; feeling deep affliction or distress.

   I felt wretched after my wife died.
2. Worthless; paltry; very poor or mean; miserable.

   The street was full of wretched beggars dressed in rags.
3. (obsolete) Hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked.
4. (informal) Used to express dislike of or annoyance towards the mentioned thing.

   Will you please stop playing that wretched trombone!

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "wretched" is often applied: woman, state, life, condition, creature, man, excess, person, place, world, being, situation, weather, slave, animal, city, village, health, house, town.

Synonyms

• (very miserable): See Thesaurus:sad or Thesaurus:lamentable
• (worthless): See Thesaurus:insignificant
• (hatefully contemptible): See Thesaurus:despicable

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• wretched in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• wretched in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “wretched”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??t?t/
• Rhymes: -?t?t

Verb

wretched

1. Misspelling of retched.

English

Alternative forms

• mesell, mysel

Etymology

From Middle English mesel, from Old French mesel, from Latin misellus (“leper”), from Latin miser (“wretched”). Compare measles.

Adjective

mesel (comparative more mesel, superlative most mesel)

1. (obsolete) Having leprosy; leprous. [14th-17th c.]

Anagrams

• LEEMs, lemes, meles

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French mesel, from Late Latin misellus (“leper”), from Latin miser (“wretched”).

Noun

mesel (plural mesels)

1. A leper. [14th-16th c.]
   • c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, III:

     For she is […] As comune as a cartwey · to eche a knaue þat walketh / To monkes to mynstralles · to meseles in hegges.

2. A wretched or revolting person. [14th-16th c.]
   • 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Isaiah LIII:

     Verily he suffride oure sikenesses, and he bar oure sorewis; and we arettiden him as a mysel and smytun of God and maad low.

3. Leprosy. [15th-16th c.]
   • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVII:

     So hit befelle many yerys agone there happened on her a malodye, and whan she had lyene a grete whyle she felle unto a mesell, and no leche cowde remedye her [...].

Descendants

• English: measle, mesel

Old French

Etymology

From Latin misellus.

Noun

mesel m (oblique plural meseaus or meseax or mesiaus or mesiax or mesels, nominative singular meseaus or meseax or mesiaus or mesiax or mesels, nominative plural mesel)

1. leper

Descendants

• ? Middle English: mesel
  • English: measle, mesel