misshapen

English

Alternative forms

• mis-shapen
• mishapen (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪsˈʃeɪ.pən/, (commonly) [mɪʃˈʃeɪ.pən]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English mysshapen, misse shapen, mysshape, mysshap; equivalent to mis- +‎ shapen.

Adjective

misshapen (comparative more misshapen, superlative most misshapen)

1. Having a bad, ugly or awkward shape; deformed; malformed; ill-shapen.

   Synonyms: misproportioned; see also Thesaurus:misshapen

2. Morally or intellectually warped.

Quotations

• 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 18:

  Pro. This miſhapen knaue [i.e., Caliban]; / His Mother was a Witch, […]

Derived terms

• misshapenly
• misshapenness

Translations

deformed

• Bulgarian: деформиран (bg) (deformiran), уродлив (bg) (urodliv)
• Dutch: misvormd (nl)
• Finnish: vääristynyt (fi), epämuodostunut (fi)
• Galician: deforme (gl), contrafeito
• German: missgestaltet (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: δύσμορφος (dúsmorphos)

• Irish: anchumtha, dodhealbhach, míchruthach, míchumtha
• Italian: deforme (it)
• Latin: dēfōrmis, distortus
• Norwegian: vanskapt, misdannet
• Persian: بیریخت (birixt)
• Plautdietsch: draljedreit
• Polish: zniekształcony, niekształtny
• Russian: деформи́рованный (ru) m (deformírovannyj)
• Scots: hurklin
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: деформисан

  Roman: deformisan (sh)

• Swedish: vanskapt (sv), missbildad (sv)

Etymology 2

From Middle English (attested as mysshapend). Probably partly from the adjective and partly from mis- +‎ shapen (verb), though shapen is attested later.

Verb

misshapen (third-person singular simple present misshapens, present participle misshapening, simple past and past participle misshapened)

1. Synonym of misshape.
   • 1924 January 4, William M[athias] Scholl, “Ten Simple Exercises to Help Strengthen Your Feet”, in The Mexia Daily News, volume XXVI, number 3, Mexia, Tex., page five, column 1:

     If the feet are well shaped but have some weakness, they will ultimately give way under the strain of use and lose their natural shape, often becoming distorted. This, of coarse, results in the distortion of the shoe. Few persons realize to what extent shoes are misshapened by defective feet.

   • 1997, Kay Pastorius, Cruising Cuisine: Fresh Food From the Galley, Camden, Me.: International Marine, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, →ISBN, page 87, column 2:

     Skin the fish before cooking since the skin shrinks as it cooks and misshapens the fillets.

   • 2005, Solomon Baksh, Trinidad & Tobago (Macmillan Caribbean Dive Guides), Oxford, Oxon: Macmillan Caribbean, →ISBN, page 71:

     Large barrel sponges are misshapened by the strong currents