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Odious
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Odious

Utterly hateful.

odious — hateful or deserving of hatred

odioso — the Spanish and Italian masculine adjective cognates of the same meaning

odiosa — the Spanish and Italian feminine adjective cognates of the same meaning

Knowing the adjective “odious” in English makes learning a common Spanish infinitive so much easier. The Spanish verb for “to hate” is “odiar.” In Italian, the verb is “odiare.” The Spanish and Italian verbs come from Latin’s odisse, but our English word of hate comes down to us from a long journey that began prior to the birth of Old English even.

I guess that goes to show that “hatred” has been around a long time; after all, it is a basic human emotion.

In English, the two words that we have borrowed from that Latin word of odisse are “odious” and “odium.” “Odious” is more commonly used, in my opinion, as well as its adverb of “odiously” and its noun of “odiousness,” but I like the word “odium.” “Odium” is hatred, but it’s a step beyond hatred. If you have “odium” toward someone, you also have contempt and detestation toward that person.

This cat’s expression is similar to the look I give the one person to whom I bear “odium.” See that contempt there in the cat’s face?

I know it’s not nice to hate anyone, but it’s also difficult not to hate a truly “odious” person. And as I mentioned above, if you are knowledgeable of our word “odious,” it makes learning “odiar” for “to hate” a simple feat.

When conjugating “odiar,” the first form of it is “odio.” In that case, “Odio” simply means “I hate,” but it is also the Spanish and Italian cognate for “odium.” In Latin, “odium” is odium.

When learning Spanish, you will encounter “odiar” somewhat early, depending upon the course and/or textbook. I believe that I was familiar with “odiar” in Spanish before I ever encountered “odious” in English, but since I already knew “odiar” and its forms, it made learning the word “odious” quite easy.

Making cognate connections between two or more languages is something I enjoy. It isn’t “odious” in the least for me.

Until next time.

Tammy Marshall

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