Turned to one side at an angle; not straight or level.
From Old Norse 'á' (on) combined with 'skew' (to turn), literally meaning 'on a turn' or 'turned to the side,' appearing in English by the 1500s.
Askew is one of those visual words where the sound almost matches the meaning—the sharp 'sk' sound combined with the elongated vowel creates linguistic imbalance matching physical imbalance.
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