English
contempt
Contempt comes from Latin contemptus ‘scorn’, and goes back to temnō ‘to despise’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemnō‘to despise’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontemnō‘to scorn, despise’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontemptus‘scorn’
- Englishearliest quotation 1918contempt
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemnō‘to despise’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontemnō‘to scorn, despise’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontemptus‘scorn’
- Englishearliest quotation 1918contempt
Earliest quotation: 1918, William Babington Maxwell, Indianapolis: “And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- ‘to cut’
atom, epitome, tome, templar, toma, dichotomous, tempestuous, 35 more
Today it means
noun The state or act of contemning; the feeling or attitude of regarding someone or something as inferior, base, or worthless; scorn, disdain.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin temnō / contempt