English
turpitude
Turpitude comes from Latin turpitūdō ‘baseness, infamy’, and goes back to turpis ‘foul, base’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEturpis‘foul, base’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEturpitūdō‘baseness, infamy’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600turpitude
- Englishearliest quotation 1886turpitude
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEturpis‘foul, base’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEturpitūdō‘baseness, infamy’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600turpitude
- Englishearliest quotation 1886turpitude
Earliest quotation: 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson: “As for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *trep- ‘to turn’
trophy, thrive, trope, intrepid, tropic, trepidation, troubadour, contrive, 31 more
Today it means
noun Inherent baseness, depravity or wickedness; corruptness and evilness.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin turpis / turpitude