Grotesque means ugly and distorted in a disturbing way. A grotesque figure, grotesque exaggeration, grotesque and comic.
The word came from grottoes: Roman rooms found underground in the fifteenth century were painted with mixed human, animal and plant forms, and that style was named after the caves. So a word for a decorative fashion became one for the disturbing.
1adjectivegrotesqueUgly and distorted in a disturbing way.
“The old church roof is decorated with grotesque stone faces with twisted mouths.”
grotesque is a quality of ugliness.
Italian grottesco means of a grotto, from the painted underground Roman rooms uncovered in the fifteenth century.
Middle French
grotesque
English, today
grotesque
Borrowed from Middle French grotesque. Middle French grotesque, from Italian grottesco, from grotta + -esco. by surface analysis, grotto + -esque. Compare French grotesque, English grotto.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA