appallingly

the word 'appallingly' is built upon the verb 'appall', which entered middle english from the old french 'apalir', meaning 'to grow or make pale'. this french term itself has germanic roots, likely related to the notion of losing color from fear or shock. the suffix '-ing' transforms the verb into an adjective ('appalling'), describing something that causes such a reaction. finally, the adverbial suffix '-ly', of old english origin, is added to modify the manner of an action, resulting in the modern sense of doing something in a shockingly dreadful or, informally, an extremely bad manner.

Structure: appall (to shock) + ing (adjective suffix) + ly (adverb suffix) appall (from old french 'apalir', meaning 'to grow pale', of germanic origin), ing (old english suffix forming present participles and adjectives), ly (old english suffix forming adverbs from adjectives).