Added 9 October 2026
ghastly
/ˈɡɑːs(t).li/ adjective
adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about ghastly at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
adverb
- In a ghastly manner.
Origin
From a conflation of gastly, from Middle English gastly, from gasten (from Old English gǣstan (“to torment, frighten”)) + -ly, and ghostly (which was also spelt gastlich in Middle English). Equivalent to ghast/gast + -ly. Spelling with gh developed in the 16th century due to the conflation.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)