abhorrent

the word 'abhorrent' originates from the latin verb 'abhorrere', which is a compound of the prefix 'ab-' ("away from") and the verb 'horrere' ("to shudder, bristle, or stand on end"). the literal sense was "to shrink back from something with horror or dread," akin to a physical reaction of hair standing on end. over time, this evolved into the more abstract meaning of feeling intense repugnance or moral revulsion towards something. the english adjective form, emerging in the late 16th century, describes something that is so repellent it figuratively causes one to recoil.

Structure: ab + hor + ent ab- (latin prefix, meaning "away, from"); hor (latin root, from 'horrere', meaning "to shudder, to bristle, to dread"); -ent (latin suffix, forming adjectives meaning "being in a state of, performing the action of").