cantankerous (adj.)

"marked by ill-tempered contradiction or opposition," 1772, said by Grose to be "a Wiltshire word," conjectured to be from an alteration (influenced perhaps by raucous) of a dialectal survival of Middle English contakour "troublemaker" (c. 1300), which is from Anglo-French contec "discord, strife," from Old French contechier (Old North French contekier), from con- "with" + teche, related to atachier "hold fast" (see attach). With -ous. Related: Cantankerously; cantankerousness.

also from 1772

Entries linking to cantankerous

attach (v.)

mid-14c. (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), "to take or seize (property or goods) by law," a legal term, from Old French atachier "fasten; arrest" (11c.), earlier estachier "to attach, fix; stake up, support" (Modern French attacher, also compare Italian attaccare), from a- "to" (see ad-) + a base also found in detach, perhaps from Frankish *stakon "a post, stake" or a similar Germanic word, from Proto-Germanic *stakon- "a stake," from PIE root *steg- (1) "pole, stick" (see stake (n.)).

The meaning "fasten, affix, connect," which probably is the original sense etymologically, is attested in English from c. 1400. Related: Attached; attaching.

-ous

word-forming element making adjectives from nouns, meaning "having, full of, having to do with, doing, inclined to," from Old French -ous, -eux, from Latin -osus (compare -ose (1)). In chemistry, "having a lower valence than forms expressed in -ic."

Trends of cantankerous

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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crone

carrion, carcass; an old ewe," also a term of abuse, from Old North French carogne, Old French charogne, term of abuse for a cantankerous...

rambunctious

U.S. colloquial variant of cantankerous. In all this bisnes the gineral was cute as a rasor....

raucous

"hoarse, harsh or croaking in sound," 1769, with -ous + Latin raucus "hoarse" (also source of French rauque, Spanish ronco, Italian rauco), from or related to ravus "hoarse," from Proto-Italic *rawo-, from PIE echoic base *reu- "to roar, make hoarse cries" (source also of Sanskri

corporation

mid-15c., corporacioun, "persons united in a body for some purpose," from such use in Anglo-Latin, from Late Latin corporationem (nominative corporatio) "assumption of a body" (used of the incarnation of Christ), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin corporare "embody

doubt

c. 1200, douten, duten, "to dread, fear, be afraid" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French doter "doubt, be doubtful; be afraid," from Latin dubitare "to doubt, question, hesitate, waver in opinion" (related to dubius "uncertain"), from duo "two" (from PIE root *dwo- "two"), wit

project

c. 1400, projecte, "a plan, draft, scheme, design," from Medieval Latin proiectum "something thrown forth," noun use of neuter of Latin proiectus, past participle of proicere "stretch out, thrust out, throw forth," from pro- "forward" (see pro-) + combining form of iacere (past p

cardinal

early 12c., "one of the ecclesiastical princes who constitute the sacred college," from Medieval Latin cardinalis, originally as a noun "one of the presbyters of the chief (cardinal) churches of Rome," short for cardinalis ecclesiae Romanae or episcopus cardinalis, from Latin car

industry

late 15c., "cleverness, skill," from Old French industrie "activity; aptitude, experience" (14c.) or directly from Latin industria "diligence, activity, zeal," noun use of fem. of industrius "active, diligent," from early Latin indostruus "diligent," from indu "in, within" (from

favor

c. 1300, "attractiveness, beauty, charm" (archaic), from Old French favor "a favor; approval, praise; applause; partiality" (13c., Modern French faveur), from Latin favorem (nominative favor) "good will, inclination, partiality, support," coined by Cicero from stem of favere "to

patriot

1590s, "compatriot," from French patriote (15c.) and directly from Late Latin patriota "fellow-countryman" (6c.), from Greek patriotes "fellow countryman," from patrios "of one's fathers," patris "fatherland," from pater (genitive patros) "father" (see father (n.)); with -otes, s

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updated on November 04, 2022

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Dictionary entries near cantankerous

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