Contumelious
/ˌkɒn.tjʊˈmiː.li.əs/noun
Insulting, scornful, or showing arrogant disrespect.
Did you know?Contumelious comes from Latin contumelia, a word for insult, abuse, or outrage, and it entered English through legal and literary writing long before it became a rare, high-drama insult.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*tem-
“to cut or injure”
Latin
Latin
contumēlia
“insult, abuse, affront, disgrace”
Late Latin
Latin
contumeliōsus
“full of insult; abusive”
14th Century
English
contumelious
“scornful, insulting, or disdainfully rude”
Modern English
English
contumelious
“insulting, contemptuous, or arrogantly disrespectful”
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