Abject
/ˈæb.dʒekt/noun
Extremely bad, unpleasant, or degraded; cast down in spirit or social position.
Did you know?Abject comes from Latin *abiectus*, the past participle of *abicere*, meaning “to throw down,” built from *ab-* (“away”) + *iacere* (“to throw”), so its original force was physical before it became emotional and moral.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*yeh₁-
“to throw, cast”
Latin
Latin
iacere
“to throw, hurl”
Latin
Latin
abicere
“to throw away, cast down”
Late Latin
Latin
abiectus
“cast down, low, degraded”
Old French
Old French
abject
“despicable, base, cast down”
Middle English
English
abject
“cast out, miserable, degraded”
Modern English
English
abject
“extremely bad or degraded”