Funest
/ˈfjuː.nɪst/noun
Causing death, ruin, or great sorrow; deadly or disastrous.
Did you know?Funest comes from the same Latin family as funeral and funerary, all descending from *funus*, a word tied to death, burial rites, and the heavy public rituals around the dead.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dheu-
“to die, pass away”
Latin
Latin
funus
“funeral rites; a corpse; death, burial”
Late Latin
Latin
funestus
“defiled by death; deadly, baleful, disastrous”
Middle English
English
funest
“deadly; causing ruin or death”
Modern English
English
funest
“causing death, ruin, or great sorrow”
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