squalid adj.

1620s, "state or condition of being miserable and dirty," from Latin squalor "roughness, dirtiness, filthiness," from squalere "be filthy" (see squalid).

1540s, from Latin squamosus "covered with scales, scaly," from squama "scale," perhaps related to squalus "foul, filthy" (see squalid). Middle English had squame "a scale" (late 14c.), from Old French esquame, from Latin squama. Alternative form squamose attested from 1660s.