asshole
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asshole¹
- /æshoʊl/ US
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
English ass
Proto-Germanic *hulaz
Proto-Germanic *hulą
Proto-West Germanic *hol
Old English hol
Middle English hole
English hole
English asshole
Variant of earlier arsehole, from Middle English arshole, arcehoole, equivalent to ass + hole. Cognate with Norwegian rasshøl (“asshole”), Swedish arsle (“asshole”). Compare also German Arschloch (“asshole”). Attested from the 1370s, replacing earlier Old English earsþyrel (“anus”, literally “ass hole”).
First recorded in Middle English, as ers hole (Glouc. Cath. Manuscript 19. No. I., dated 1379, cited after OED), ars-hole (Bodleian Ashmole MS. 1396, dated ca. 1400, ed. Robert Von Fleischhacker as Lanfrank's "Science of Cirurgie", EETS 102, 1894, cited after OED.) Slang figurative usage dates to the 20th century; it was used of an uninviting place (compare shithole) in the 1920s, and then of an anti-social or despicable person from at least the 1950s (Harvard Advocate 137, March 1954). It is also used appositionally (as in "You're an asshole moralist", T. Chamales, 1957).
noun assholes · arsehole · asswhole · basshole
- The anus. That homemade hot sauce of yours got me twice, both coming and going. My asshole is still sore.
- A jerk; an inappropriately or objectionably mean, inconsiderate, contemptible, immoral, obnoxious, intrusive, stupid, or rude person. My former landlord was a world-class asshole. Fortunately my current landlord is an actual human being.
- Anything (especially a place) that is unpleasant or undesirable. Welcome to the Northeast, the asshole of America.
Similar: anus, jerk, or Thesaurus:antonyms of pleasant
asshole²
Where it comes from
From Scots ass, asse or ash + hole.
noun assholes · esshole
- A receptacle under a fire grate for collecting ashes; an ash-hole. Esshole, Asshole, the hole under the fire to hold ashes.
