caitiff

[key-tif]Archaic.

See more synonyms for caitiff on Thesaurus.com

noun

a base, despicable person.

adjective

base; despicable.

Origin of caitiff

1250–1300; Middle English caitif < Anglo-French < Latin captīvus captive

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for caitiff

dastard, rat, scoundrel, louse

Examples from the Web for caitiff

Historical Examples of caitiff

What man would be so caitiff and thrall as to fail you at your need?
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
Her eloquent sighs and sobs soon told the caitiff he had nothing to fear.
A Simpleton
Charles Reade
I would not be so caitiff and so thrall as to leave you, when some small deed might still be done.
Sir Nigel
Arthur Conan Doyle
The proper thing to say to a bad man is, "Caitiff, I hate thee."
Nineteenth Century Questions
James Freeman Clarke
Nay, his was no coward blood that would surrender to caitiff churls.
A Clerk of Oxford
Evelyn Everett-Green

British Dictionary definitions for caitiff

caitiff

noun

a cowardly or base person

adjective

cowardly; base

Word Origin for caitiff

C13: from Old French caitif prisoner, from Latin captīvus captive

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for caitiff

adj.

c.1300, "wicked, base, cowardly," from Old North French caitive "captive, miserable" (Old French chaitif, 12c., Modern French chétif "puny, sickly, poor, weak"), from Latin captivum (see captive, which was a later, scholarly borrowing of the same word). In most Romance languages, it has acquired a pejorative sense.

c.1300, "wicked man, scoundrel," from Anglo-French caitif, noun use from Old North French caitive "captive, miserable" (see caitiff (adj.)). From mid-14c as "prisoner."