askew

See also: Askew

English

Alternative forms

• askue, ascue, askoye, a skew

Etymology

From Old Norse á ská (“askew, askance”), equivalent to a- ‎ skew. Compare Icelandic á ská (“diagonally”), Danish skrå (“slanting, oblique”), German Schräge (“slope, slant”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ə-skyo͞oʹ, IPA^(key): /əˈskju/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈskjuː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

Adjective

askew

1. Turned or twisted to one side.
   • 1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way :

     Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of "Stonewall Jackson’s Way."
     We see him now — the old slouched hat cocked o'er his eye askew, the shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, so calm, so blunt, so true.

2. (figuratively) Untoward, unfavourable.

Derived terms

• askewness

 

Translations

turned or twisted to one side

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 歪 (zh) (wāi)

• Dutch: scheef (nl)
• Finnish: vino (fi)
• French: de travers (fr), de guingois (fr), de traviole (fr), oblique (fr), incliné (fr), penché (fr)
• German: schief (de), verzogen (de), verwunden (de), verbogen (de), quer (de), schräg (de), verrutscht (de)
• Hebrew: על העוקם (al ha'ókem)
• Hungarian: ferde (hu), félrecsúszott, csálé (hu), rézsútos (hu)
• Italian: obliquo (it)
• Latin: līmus
• Plautdietsch: winjsch
• Portuguese: torto (pt)
• Spanish: torcido (es), oblicuo (es)

untoward, unfavourable

• German: verquer (de), ungünstig (de)

Adverb

askew (comparative more askew, superlative most askew)

1. Tilted to one side.

   He wore his hat askew

Translations

tilted to one side

• Finnish: kallellaan (fi), vinossa (fi)
• German: schief (de), schräg (de), sich neigend
• Hungarian: ferdén (hu), csálén, rézsútosan (hu)

with disapproval

• Finnish: vinosti (fi), kieroon
• German: mißbilligend (de), abschätzig (de)

Related terms

• skew-whiff

Anagrams

• wakes, wekas