Nefandous

 

nefandous

PRONUNCIATION:

(nuh-FAN-duhs) 

MEANING:

adjective: So wicked as to defy description: abominable, appalling.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin nefandus (wicked), from ne- (not) + fandus (to be spoken), gerundive (verbal adjective) of fari (to speak). Earliest documented use: 1649.

NOTES:

A synonym of today’s word is nefarious, but it’s from Latin fas (right, divine law) instead of fari (to speak).

USAGE:

“Does it not, then, fit such a man to a hair to call him nefandous? ... Better kiss an asp or a viper; then the risk is a bite and a pain which the doctor cures when you call him. But from the venom of your kiss, who could approach victims or altars? What god would listen to one’s prayer?”
Lucian (Translation: H.W. Fowler and F.G Fowler); The Works of Lucian of Samosata; Oxford University Press; 1905.