Meaning

adjective very unpleasant

adjective extremely evil or cruel; expressive of cruelty or befitting hell

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-der. Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-yo- /*ḱol-yeh₂-der.? Proto-Germanic *haljō Proto-West Germanic *hallju Old English hell Middle English helle English hell Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -ish English -ish English hellish From hell + -ish.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0