cruel

English

Etymology

Middle English, from Old French, from Latin crūdēlis (“hard, severe, cruel”), akin to crūdus (“raw, crude”); see crude.

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: kro͞oəl, IPA: /kɹuːəl/, X-SAMPA: /kr\u:@l/

• Audio (US/UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊəl

Adjective

cruel (comparative crueler or crueller, superlative cruelest or cruellest)

1. Not nice; mean; heartless.

   The supervisor was very cruel to Josh, as he would always give Josh the hardest, most degrading work he could find.

2. (slang) Cool; awesome; neat.

Synonyms

• brutal
• sadistic
• vicious

Antonyms

• merciful

Derived terms

• cruelly

Related terms

• crude
• crudeness
• cruelty

Translations

not nice; mean; heartless

• Afrikaans: wreedaardig (af)
• Albanian: mizor (sq)
• Arabic: قاسي (ar) (qaasiy)
• Armenian: դաժան (hy) (dažan) , անգութ (hy) (angut’) 
• Asturian: cruel (ast)
• Belarusian: жорсткі (be) (žórstki) 
• Bulgarian: жесток (bg) (žestók) 
• Catalan: cruel (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 殘忍 (cmn), 残忍 (cmn) (cánrěn), 殘酷 (cmn), 残酷 (cmn) (cánkù)

• Czech: krutý (cs) m
• Danish: grusom (da)
• Dutch: wreed (nl), wrede (nl), gemeen (nl), gemene (nl)
• Esperanto: kruela (eo)
• Estonian: julm (et)
• Faroese: grimmur (fo)
• Finnish: julma (fi)
• French: cruel (fr)
• Galician: cruel (gl)
• Georgian: სასტიკი (ka) (sastiki) 
• German: grausam (de)
• Greek: σκληρός (el) (sklērós) 
• Hebrew: אַכְזָרִי (he) (akhzary) m, אכזרית (he) (akhzaryt) f
• Hindi: निर्दयी (hi) (nirdayī), ज़ालिम (hi) (zālim)
• Hungarian: kegyetlen (hu)
• Icelandic: grimmur (is) m, vondur (is) m
• Indonesian: kejam (id)
• Interlingua: cruel (ia)
• Irish: cruálach (ga)
• Italian: crudele (it)
• Japanese: 残酷 (ja) (ざんこく, zankoku), 酷い (ja) (ひどい, hidoi), 惨い (ja) (むごい, mugoi)
• Korean: 잔인한 (ko) (janin-han)
• Kurdish: zalim (ku), bêrehm (ku)
• Latin: crudelis (la)

• Latvian: nežēlīgs (lv)
• Lithuanian: žiaurus (lt), negailestingas (lt)
• Malay: kejam (ms)
• Maori: whakawiriwiri (mi)
• Mongolian: хэрцгий (mn) (hėrcgij) 
• Neapolitan: malo
• Norwegian: grusom (no)
• Papiamentu: kruel
• Persian: ظالم (fa) (zâlem)
• Polish: okrutny (pl)
• Portuguese: cruel (pt)
• Romanian: crud (ro), crunt (ro), cumplit (ro)
• Russian: жестокий (ru) (žestókij) 
• Scottish Gaelic: borb (gd), garg (gd), cruadalach (gd), neo-iochdmhor (gd), neo-thruacanta (gd), mì-chneasta (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: не̏човјечан (sh) (Ijekavian), не̏човечан (sh) (Ekavian); о̏крӯтан (sh) m

  Roman: nȅčovječan (sh) (Ijekavian), nȅčovečan (sh) (Ekavian); ȍkrūtan (sh) m

• Slovak: krutý (sk)
• Slovene: krut (sl)
• Spanish: cruel (es)
• Swahili: dhalimu (sw)
• Swedish: grym (sv)
• Tagalog: malupit (tl)
• Telugu: క్రూరమైన (te) (krooramaina)
• Thai: โหด (th) (hòht), ทารุณ (th) (taarun), โหดร้าย (th) (hòht-ráai)
• Turkish: zalim (tr)
• Ukrainian: жорстокий (uk) (žorstókyj) 
• Urdu: نردیی (ur) (nirdayī), ظالم (ur) (zālim)
• Uyghur: achchiq (ug)
• Vietnamese: độc ác (vi)
• Welsh: creulon (cy)
• West Frisian: wreed (fy)
• Yiddish: groysam, גרויזאם (yi) (groyzam)

Verb

cruel (third-person singular simple present cruels, present participle cruelling, simple past and past participle cruelled)

1. To spoil or ruin (one's chance of success)

External links

• cruel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• cruel in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• lucre
• ulcer

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Asturian

Etymology

From Latin crūdēlis.

Adjective

cruel (epicene, plural crueles)

1. cruel

Related terms

• crueldá

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin crūdēlis.

Adjective

cruel m, f (masculine and feminine plural cruels)

1. cruel

Derived terms

• cruelment
• crueltat

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French

Etymology

From Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /kʁy.ɛl/, X-SAMPA: /kRy.El/
• Homophones: cruels, cruelle, cruelles

Adjective

cruel m (feminine cruelle, masculine plural cruels, feminine plural cruelles)

1. cruel
2. hard, painful

Synonyms

• féroce
• pénible

Derived terms

• cruellement

Anagrams

• culer
• recul

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Galician

Etymology

From Latin crūdēlis.

Adjective

cruel m and f (plural crueis)

1. cruel

Derived terms

• cruelment

Related terms

• crueldade

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Middle English

Adjective

cruel

1. cruel

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin crūdēlis.

Adjective

cruel m and f (plural crueis; comparable)

1. cruel

Derived terms

• cruelmente

Related terms

• crueldade

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin crūdēlis.

Adjective

cruel m and f (plural crueles)

1. cruel

Derived terms

• cruelmente

Related terms

• crueldad