English
sarcastic
Sarcastic may come from French sarcastique.
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsarcastiqueuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1819sarcastic
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsarcastiqueuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1819sarcastic
Earliest quotation: 1819, Walter Scott: “The unhappy Jew eyed their countenances and that of…”
Formed from sarcasm + -astic
Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- ‘to cut’
…
Ancient Greek σάρξ ‘flesh’
Ancient Greek σαρκάζω ‘to gnash the teeth (in anger)’
Ancient Greek σαρκασμός ‘a sneer’
Late Latin sarcasmus
English sarcasm
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- ‘to carve, cut off, trim’
trunk, trench, sarcoma, truncheon, truncate, truncation, 17 more
Today it means
adj Containing sarcasm.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French sarcastique / sarcastic