Etymologically
Log in

cruelty

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkɹuː(.ə)lti/[1]
  • US: /ˈkɹu(.ə)lti/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French crualté (modern cruauté),[2][3][4][5][6] from a popular form of Latin crūdēlitās (“cruelty”),[2][5][4] formed on crūdēlis (“hard-hearted, cruel”), the source of cruel, with the suffix that became -ity.[6][7][3] The adjective is related to crūdus (“rough, raw, bloody”), the source of crude.[3] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from about 1141, for cruelty and wickedness and for wildness or ferocity.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being cruel, delight in or indifference to the suffering of others: c1230, in the Ancrene Riwle;[2][9] about 1200 in Etymonline, for indifference to, or pleasure in, the distress of any sentient being.[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense "a cruel act" is recorded from the late 14th century.[3][5] Several weaker senses did not last: "severity of pain, excessive suffering" (a1500–1634), "severity, strictness" (1556–1636) and, once about 1420, a harsh or foul smell.[2][6] Johnson (1755) defined it as inhumanity, savageness and barbarity, quoting Shakespeare's Coriolanus.[10] In modern law cruelty is conduct by one spouse that endangers the life or health of the other, grounds for divorce,[11][6] and the Shorter Oxford records the phrase mental cruelty.[5]

Timeline

  • c1230 – the quality of being cruel.[2]
  • late 14th century – a cruel act.[3]
  • c1420 – (obsolete) harshness of smell.[2]
  • a1500 – (obsolete) severity of pain.[2]
  • 1556 – (obsolete) severity, strictness.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The quality of being cruel; a readiness to cause pain or suffering, or indifference to it: the cruelty of the guards.
  2. A cruel act; inhuman treatment: the cruelties of the old prison system.
  3. (law) Behaviour by a husband or wife that endangers the other's life or health, accepted as grounds for divorce.

Word family

  • anticruelty
  • cruelty-free

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  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. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins