Thread: What's a better word for ugly in Russian?

безобразный or уродливый?

Not that I'm gonna start people name, but comprehensive knowledge is important!

отвратительный гадкий неприятный грязный, depends on what the intent is.

или просто некрасивый

Originally Posted by Valda

безобразный or уродливый?

Not that I'm gonna start people name, but comprehensive knowledge is important!

Question for native speakers: My understanding is that урод and уродливый originally had the meaning of "a miscarried [i.e., born dead] fetus" or "a monstrously deformed baby" -- and the noun уродство can still mean "a severe physical abnormality at birth."



Thus, even though the word уродливый does not necessarily have this meaning nowadays, it's still a rather strong word suggesting "an extreme degree of ugliness." Is this correct?

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Thus, even though the word уродливый does not necessarily have this meaning nowadays, it's still a rather strong word suggesting "an extreme degree of ugliness." Is this correct?

They are both quite strong. The difference is, "уродливый" is reserved primarily for people, while "безобразный" is used in a much wider variety of contexts in the meaning of "awful" (still, not as often as other equivalents).
I would use некрасивый unless the appearance is really bad.

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Thus, even though the word уродливый does not necessarily have this meaning nowadays, it's still a rather strong word suggesting "an extreme degree of ugliness." Is this correct?

I'm no native speaker, but interestingly enough, typing уродливый into a Yandex and Google image search seems to return mostly deformed animals (mostly cats and dogs) rather than ugly people. Whether this is indicative of how most Russian people use it, I'm not sure, but I found it interesting.

Basically there are no ugly people in Russia, only pretty, not pretty, and deformed.

я бы сказал мерзкий.

Originally Posted by Shady_arc

They are both quite strong. The difference is, "уродливый" is reserved primarily for people, while "безобразный" is used in a much wider variety of contexts in the meaning of "awful" (still, not as often as other equivalents).
I would use некрасивый unless the appearance is really bad.

I can't agree. "Уродливый" is often applied to buildings, gardens, vehicles etc.

"безобразный" is a synonym, but unlike "уродливый" could be also applied to "immaterial" words (with the meaning 'very bad'): безобразная погода, безобразное поведение, etc

Originally Posted by zxc

I'm no native speaker, but interestingly enough, typing уродливый into a Yandex and Google image search seems to return mostly deformed animals (mostly cats and dogs) rather than ugly people. Whether this is indicative of how most Russian people use it, I'm not sure, but I found it interesting.

Because "уродливый человек" is just "урод" or "уродец".

уродливый - more like deformed
безобразный - more like wrong, disordered, improper
мерзкий - more like disgusting, hideous