Etymologically
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contempt

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Pronunciation

  • /kənˈtɛmpt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman contempt (“open disrespect towards authority; scorn”) and its source Latin contemptus (“a despising, scorn”),[2][3][4] formed on the past participial stem of contemnō (“to scorn, despise”).[2][5][6][7][8] The Latin verb is formed from con-, here perhaps intensive, and *temnō (“to slight”), of uncertain origin;[3][5] Barnhart notes that the classical temnō is an artificial form that poets abstracted from the compound.[5] De Vaan, cited by Etymonline, connects it with a root meaning "to cut", comparing Middle Irish tamnaid (“cuts”) and Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”).[3] In the Latin noun the n was lost and a p inserted.[4] The same verb gave contemn.[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A feeling that a person or thing is inferior, worthless or despicable: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis,[2][9] in the phrase in contempt of.[2] Etymonline puts the sense "open disregard of authority" in the late 14th century and the general sense of scorn about 1400.[3] The Anglo-Norman word already had the first of these by the late 13th century, often in law.[2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, disobedience to the commands of the king or the authority of Parliament, is recorded in English from 1424,[2] and contempt of court, after the medieval Latin contemptus curiae, from before 1579;[2] Etymonline dates the phrase by 1719.[3] The state of being despised, as in to bring into contempt, appeared about 1430,[2] an act showing scorn in 1502,[2] and a person or thing deserving scorn in 1589, a use now rare.[2] To hold someone in contempt, in the sense of despising them, dates from before 1450, and in the sense of ruling them guilty of contempt of court from 1827.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the act of despising others; slight regard; scorn".[10] A verb contempt, to scorn, used from the 1550s, is now archaic.[2][11][12]

Timeline

  • a1393 – scorn, in Gower.[2][9]
  • 1424 – (law) disobedience to the monarch or Parliament.[2]
  • c. 1430 – the state of being despised.[2]
  • 1502 – an act of scorn.[2]
  • a1555 – the verb, to scorn (now archaic).[2]
  • a1579 – contempt of court.[2]
  • 1589 – an object of scorn.[2]
  • 1827 – to hold in contempt of court.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The feeling that someone or something is worthless or beneath respect; scorn: He spoke of his critics with open contempt.
  2. The state of being despised: The old regime had fallen into contempt.
  3. (law) Deliberate disobedience to or disrespect for a court or legislative body; in full contempt of court.

Word family

  • contemptible
  • contemptuous
  • self-contempt
  • contempt of Congress

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes contempt, disdain and scorn, which all express strong disapproval of what seems base or worthless.[4] The phrase beneath contempt describes someone not worth even despising.[12][2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press