different between ungainly vs huge

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?n??e?nli/
• Hyphenation: un?gain?ly

Etymology 1

un- (“prefix meaning ‘not’”) +? gainly (“graceful; becoming; proper, suitable; gracious, kindly”) (from gain (“dexterous; convenient, easy, handy; suitable”), from Old Norse gegn (“fit, serviceable; direct, straight; honest; kindly”) + -ly (“suffix forming adjectives from nouns”)). Compare dialectal Norwegian Nynorsk ugjegnleg (“stubborn; troublesome”).

Adjective

ungainly (comparative ungainlier or more ungainly, superlative ungainliest or most ungainly)

1. Clumsy; lacking grace.
   • 1962, Edward [Ronald] Weismiller, chapter XI, in The Serpent Sleeping, New York, N.Y.: Putnam, ?OCLC; republished London; Portland, Or.: Frank Cass Publishers, 1998, ?ISBN, page 169:

     His body, though thin, looked oversized and ungainly, his limbs poorly knit together; he appeared to conquer his tendency to awkwardness by making only the smallest, most deliberate of movements.

2. Difficult to move or to manage; unwieldy.
3. (obsolete) Unsuitable; unprofitable.

Alternative forms

• ungainlie (obsolete)

Derived terms

• ungainliness

Translations

Noun

ungainly (plural ungainlies)

1. (rare) An ungainly person or thing.

Etymology 2

ungain (from un- + gain (“dexterous; convenient, easy, handy; suitable”)) +? -ly.

Adverb

ungainly (comparative ungainlier or more ungainly, superlative ungainliest or most ungainly)

1. (obsolete) In an ungainly or unbecoming manner; improperly; undeservedly, unduly; unsuitably.

Anagrams

• guanylin, unlaying

English

Etymology

From Middle English huge, from Old French ahuge (“high, lofty, great, large, huge”), from a hoge (“at height”), from a (“at, to”) + hoge (“a hill, height”), from Frankish *haug, *houg (“height, hill”) or Old Norse haugr (“hill”); both from Proto-Germanic *haugaz (“hill, mound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kowkós (“hill, mound”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *kewk-. Akin to Old High German houg (“mound”) (compare related German Hügel (“hill”)), Old Norse haugr (“mound”), Lithuanian ka?karas (“hill”), Old High German h?h (“high”) (whence German hoch), Old English h?ah (“high”). More at high.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /hju?d??/, [çu??d??]
• (US)
• (NYC, some other US dialects) IPA^(key): /ju?d?/
• (Norfolk) IPA^(key): [h?ud?]

Adjective

huge (comparative huger, superlative hugest)

1. Very large.

   • “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, […] the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts, […] the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!”
2. (slang) Distinctly interesting, significant, important, likeable, well regarded.

Synonyms

• (very large): colossal, elephantine, enormous, giant, gigantic, immense, prodigious, vast.
• See also Thesaurus:gigantic

Antonyms

• (very large): tiny, small, minuscule, midget, dwarf

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• huge in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• huge in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• e-hug, eugh, gehu

Middle English

Alternative forms

• hoige, houge, hugge, hoge, hogge, hoege, heug, heuge, hogh

Etymology

From Old French ahuge, a form of ahoge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hiu?d?(?)/

Adjective

huge

1. huge, large, enormous
2. great, severe, excessive, prominent
3. numerous, plentiful

Descendants

• English: huge
• Scots: huge, hudge

References

• “h??e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

Adverb

huge

1. hugely, greatly

References

• “h??e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

Middle French

Noun

huge f (plural huges)

1. market stall