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curmudgeon

[ker-muhj-uhn]
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noun

a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person.

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RELATED WORDS

sorehead, grump, crank, crab, killjoy, growler, whiner, crosspatch, faultfinder, grouch, misanthrope, complainer, sourpuss, bear, malcontent, kicker, bug, griper, sulker, grouser

Nearby words

  1. curly palm,
  2. curly top,
  3. curly-coated retriever,
  4. curlycue,
  5. curlyhead,
  6. curmudgeonly,
  7. curn,
  8. curnow,
  9. curr,
  10. currach

Origin of curmudgeon

1570–80; unexplained; perhaps cur- representing cur
Related formscur·mudg·eon·ly, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for curmudgeon

British Dictionary definitions for curmudgeon

curmudgeon

noun

a surly or miserly person
Derived Formscurmudgeonly, adjective

Word Origin for curmudgeon

C16: of unknown origin
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 curmudgeon

curmudgeon

n.

1570s, of unknown origin; the suggestion, based on a misreading of a garbled note from Johnson, that it is from French coeur mechant "evil heart" is not taken seriously; the first syllable may be cur "dog." Liberman says the word "must have been borrowed from Gaelic (and references muigean "disagreeable person"), with variant spelling of intensive prefix ker-. Related: Curmudgeonly.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper