English
deride
Deride comes from Latin dērīdeō ‘to laugh at, make fun of, mock, deride’, and goes back to rīdeō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErīdeō‘to laugh’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdērīdeō‘to laugh at, make fun of, mock, deride’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdērīdērepresent active infinitive of dērīdeō
- Englishearliest quotation 1610deride
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErīdeō‘to laugh’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdērīdeō‘to laugh at, make fun of, mock, deride’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdērīdērepresent active infinitive of dērīdeō
- Englishearliest quotation 1610deride
Earliest quotation: 1610, Saint Augustine, The Confessions of Such as Doe Worship Those Pagan Gods, fro: “Cicero beeing Augur, derideth the Auguries, and blames men…”
The story
Learned borrowing from Latin dērīdēre, the present active infinitive of dērīdeō (‘to laugh at, make fun of, mock, deride’), from dē- (prefix denoting putting down or subjecting to indignity) + rīdeō (‘to laugh; to laugh at, mock, ridicule’) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (‘to rotate; to turn’) (referring to turning the mouth to smile) or *wreyd- (‘to carve; to scratch’)).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
word, university, worth, version, weird, conversation, universe, divorce, diversity, versus, diverse, vertical, verse, advertisement, vortex, versatile, convertible, advert, adversity, divert, diversification, revert, pervert, vertex, vertigo, avert, vertebrate, introvert, subvert, vert, verso, wurst, perversity, 70 more
through Latin rīdeō ‘to laugh’
through Latin dērīdeō ‘to laugh at, make fun of, mock, deride’
Today it means
verb To laugh at or mock (someone or something) harshly; to ridicule, to scorn.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin rīdeō / deride