early 13c., "to inspire fear or loathing;" mid-14c. "to feel fear or loathing," from Old Norse ugga "to fear, dread" (see ugly). Related: Ugging.

from Swahili u "land, country" + Ganda, indigenous people name, which is of unknown origin. Related: Ugandan.

1936, "pertaining to Ugarit," ancient city of northern Syria, and especially to the Semitic language first discovered there 1929 by Claude Schaeffer, from Ugarit, which probably is ultimately from Sumerian ugaru "field."

1765, imitative of the sound of a cough; as an interjection of disgust, recorded from 1822. Form ough is from 1560s.

mid-13c., uglike "frightful or horrible in appearance," from a Scandinavian source, such as Old Norse uggligr "dreadful, fearful," from uggr "fear, apprehension, dread" (perhaps related to agg "strife, hate") + -ligr "-like" (see -ly (1)). Meaning softened to "very unpleasant to look at" late 14c. Extended sense of "morally offensive" is attested from c. 1300; that of "ill-tempered" is from 1680s.

Among words for this concept, ugly is unusual in being formed from a root for "fear, dread." More common is a compound meaning "ill-shaped" (such as Greek dyseides, Latin deformis, Irish dochrud, Sanskrit ku-rupa). Another Germanic group has a root sense of "hate, sorrow" (see loath). Ugly duckling (1877) is from the story by Hans Christian Andersen, first translated from Danish to English 1846. Ugly American "U.S. citizen who behaves offensively abroad" is first recorded 1958 as a book title.

"repulsiveness of appearance," late 14c., from ugly + -ness.

1820 (Shelley), noun of action from uglify.

1570s; see ugly + -fy. Related: uglified; uglifying.

inarticulate sound, attested from c. 1600; uh-huh, spoken affirmative (often ironic or non-committal) is recorded by 1894; negative uh-uh is attested from 1924.

1937, abbreviation of ultra-high frequency (1932) in reference to radio frequencies in the range of 300 to 3,000 megahertz.