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PlainSpell

nasty

/ˈnæs.ti/adjective, noun, verb

nasty is spelled N-A-S-T-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, nasty means “Dirty, filthy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in nasty?

Letters5: N-A-S-T-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing17 times per million words; the 4,934th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is nasty?

Nasty appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce nasty?

  • Australia /ˈnaː.sti/
  • UK /ˈnɑː.sti/
  • US /ˈnæs.ti/

Nasty has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-nasty.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with nasty?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as nasty (/æsti/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: antsy, tansy.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of nasty

  • nastier comparative
  • nastiest superlative
  • nasties plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • nastying participle, present
  • nastied participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does nasty mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    USDirty, filthy.

  2. 2

    Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person).

  3. 3

    Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive.

  4. 4

    Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd.

  5. 5

    Spiteful, unkind.

  6. 6

    UKAwkward, difficult to navigate; dangerous.

  7. 7

    UKGrave or dangerous (of an accident, illness etc.).

  8. 8

    USslangFormidable, terrific; wicked.

noun

  1. 1

    informalSomething nasty.

    Processed foods are full of aspartame and other nasties.

  2. 2

    slangSexual intercourse.

  3. 3

    A video nasty.

verb

  1. 1

    To besmirch, to befoul.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Nasty in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanabscheulich, böse, ekelhaft, scheußlich, schlimm, unangenehm (dirty, filthy)
Portugueseporco, imundo (dirty, filthy), desprezível, odioso, menosprezível (contemptible of a person), obsceno (indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd)
Spanishsucio (dirty, filthy), menospreciable (contemptible of a person), obsceno, grosero (indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd), peligroso (grave or dangerous)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does nasty come from?

From Middle English nasty, nasti, naxty, naxte (“unclean, filthy”), whence also Early Modern English nasky (“nasty”), of obscure origin. Probably from earlier Middle English *naskty, *naskedy, from Middle English *nasked (“dirty, messy”) + -y, ultimately of North Germanic origin (comparable to Danish nasket (“dirty, foul, unpleasant”), Swedish naskot (“dirty, filthy”), Swedish naskig, naskug (“nasty, dirty, messy”)), themselves all probably related to Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“tender, soft”). Likely doublet of nesh and nosh. Cognate with Scots nastie, nestie (“dirty, filthy”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after nasty