The Surprising Origin Of The Word 'Awful' Might Just Change How You Use It

If someone called you “awful” today, you’d probably be offended. But travel back a few hundred years and that same word would have been high praise.

Awful has one of the more dramatic reversals in the English language. It began as something genuinely admiring and ended up as something quite negative in everyday use. 

“The word ‘awful’ traces back to the Old English root ege, meaning dread, reverence or profound respect,” 

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