hellish

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled helish

US /ˈhɛlɪʃ/ UK /ˈhɛlɪʃ/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
extremely unpleasant or torturous; of or like hell

The crossing was a hellish ordeal of storms and seasickness.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · extremely unpleasant or... infernal diabolical fiendish atrocious horrendous torturous damnable accursed

Opposites

heavenly divine blissful paradisiacal idyllic

Word family

Derived forms hellishlyhellishness

Related forms hellhellfirehellbound

Etymology

From hell (Old English hell, from Proto-Germanic *haljō 'underworld') + the adjectival suffix -ish (Old English -isc).

hell Old English *haljō Proto-Germanic *ḱel- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# hellish

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈhɛlɪʃ
**IPA (UK):** ˈhɛlɪʃ

## Meanings
1. extremely unpleasant or torturous; of or like hell

## Examples
- The crossing was a hellish ordeal of storms and seasickness.

## Synonyms
- infernal
- diabolical
- fiendish
- atrocious
- horrendous
- torturous
- damnable
- accursed

## Antonyms
- heavenly
- divine
- blissful
- paradisiacal
- idyllic

## Derived Forms
- hellishly
- hellishness

## Related Forms
- hell
- hellfire
- hellbound

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hell
- Root: *haljō
- Root: *ḱel-

## Etymology
From hell (Old English hell, from Proto-Germanic *haljō 'underworld') + the adjectival suffix -ish (Old English -isc).

## AI Etymology
Hellish comes from hell (Old English hell, from Proto-Germanic *haljō 'underworld') + the adjectival suffix -ish (Old English -isc). The etymological trail includes Old English hell, Proto-Germanic *haljō, and Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-. As an adjective, hellish describes what is extremely unpleasant or torturous; of or like hell. The same family is visible in derived forms such as hellishly and hellishness and related forms such as hell, hellfire, and hellbound. The analysis is partly morphological, with the modern form built from the elements named in the history.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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hellish

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