definitions

churl

[ churl ]
/ tʃɜrl /
|
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR churl ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a rude, boorish, or surly person.
a peasant; rustic.
a niggard; miser: He was a churl in his affections.
English History. a freeman of the lowest rank.

RELATED WORDS

rustic, clodhopper, oaf, tightwad, beast, provincial, peasant, yokel, miser, niggard, chuff, mucker

Nearby words

churchy, churchyard, churchyard beetle, churidars, churinga, churl, churlish, churn, churn drill, churn molding, churn out

Origin of churl

before 900; Middle English cherl, Old English ceorl man, freeman; cognate with Dutch kerel, German Kerl; akin to carl
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for churl

British Dictionary definitions for churl

churl

/ (tʃɜːl) /

noun

a surly ill-bred person
archaic a farm labourer
a variant spelling of ceorl

Word Origin for churl

Old English ceorl; related to Old Norse karl, Middle Low German kerle, Greek gerōn old man
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