1590s, "repugnance excited by something offensive or loathsome," from Middle French desgoust "strong dislike, repugnance," literally "distaste" (16c., Modern French dégoût), from desgouster "have a distaste for," from des- "opposite of" (see dis-) + gouster "taste," from Latin gustare "to taste" (from PIE root *geus- "to taste; to choose"). The literal sense, "distaste, aversion to the taste of," is from 1610s in English.