churlish

WOTD - 19 October 2007    

English

Etymology

From late Old English cierlisc "of or pertaining to churls," from churl + -ish. Meaning "deliberately rude" is late 14c.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈtʃɜːlɪʃ/
• (US) IPA: /ˈtʃɝːlɪʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)lɪʃ

Adjective

churlish (comparative more churlish, superlative most churlish)

1. Of or pertaining to a serf, peasant, or rustic.
2. Rude, surly, ungracious.
3. Stingy or grudging
4. (of soil) Difficult to till, lacking pliancy; unmanageable.

Synonyms

• (of or pertaining to a serf): rustic
• (rude or surly): cross-grained, rude, surly, ungracious
• (stingy or grudging): grudging, illiberal, miserly, niggardly, stingy

Related terms

• churl
• churldom
• churled
• churlhood
• churlishly
• churlishness

Translations

of or pertaining to a serf

Norwegian: bondsk (no)

rude or surly

Armenian: բռի (hy) (bṙi), անտաշ (hy) (antaš) Bulgarian: груб (bg) Greek: αγροίκος  (el) (aγroíkos) Italian: villano (it) Korean: 야비한 (ko) (yapihan)

Norwegian: gretten (no) Portuguese: rústico (pt), grosseiro (pt) Romanian: ursuz (ro) Russian: грубый (ru) (grúbyj) Spanish: poco afable (es)

stingy or grudging

Bulgarian: скъпернически (bg)