Loath and Loathe

Loath and Loathe Loath and Loathe Loath and Loathe By Maeve Maddox Paul Russell writes: I am loath to admit, or maybe loathe to admit, that I always thought the correct expression was â€Å"loathed to admit† But having Googled, I find the â€Å"loath† version scores about 1.1m pages,†loathe† around 55,000 with â€Å"loathed† in a lowly last place at 32,000. Please can you tell me which is correct, although I suspect Google has already answered my question. The forms loath, loathe, and loathed are not interchangeable. The word loath is an adjective. It’s from Old English laà ° which meant â€Å"hostile, repulsive.† It’s related to German Leid (sorrow) and French laid (ugly). Its most frequent modern usage is in the expression â€Å"to be loath to do something,† in which the meaning is not much stronger than â€Å"reluctant.† Ex. I am loath to admit my mistake. In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath tells the story of the â€Å"loathly lady.† A young man must choose between an ugly (loathly) bride who will be faithful, and a beautiful one who will not be. The word loathe is a verb. It’s from Old English laà °ian which had the meaning â€Å"to hate, to be disgusted with.† The modern meaning is about the same: â€Å"to feel strong aversion for; have extreme disgust at.† The form loathed is the participle form. Ex. The child loathed the cruel teacher. A variant spelling of the adjective loath is loth. The th in the adjective has the unvoiced sound heard in thin. The verb loathe (despite the tutor’s note at Answers.com) has a different pronunciation. The th in loathe has the voiced sound heard in this. The silent final e is what signals the difference in pronunciation. In looking for examples on the web I came across the form â€Å"loather.† The Kingdom of Loathers is an online game. The Loathers is a music group. A blogger criticizing the ACLU indicated that the letters must stand for American Christian Loathers Union. I couldn’t find any indication of how the word â€Å"loather† in these examples is pronounced. If the â€Å"loather† is so called because of feelings of reluctance, I should think that the pronunciation is [lÃ… th-É™r] with unvoiced th. If the â€Å"loather† is so called because of feelings of intense dislike of something (as is presumably the case in the ACLU reference), then it would be pronounced with a voiced th: [lÃ… TH-É™r]. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Farther vs. FurtherList of 50 Great Word Games for Kids and AdultsPeople vs. Persons