- terrible
- c.1430, "causing terror, frightful," from O.Fr. terrible (12c.), from L. terribilis "frightful," from terrere "fill with fear," from PIE base *tres- "to tremble" (cf. Skt. trasati "trembles," Avestan tarshta "feared, revered," Gk. treëin "to tremble," Lith. triseti "to tremble," O.C.S. treso "I shake," M.Ir. tarrach "timid"). Weakened sense of "very bad, awful" is first attested 1596. Terribly "dreadfully" is attested from 1526; in the sense of "extremely" it is first recorded 1833; in the sense of "extremely badly" it dates from 1930.