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derideo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word derideo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (rīdeō)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈriː.de.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈriː.de.o][1]

Forms

dērīdeō (present infinitive dērīdēre, perfect active dērīsī, supine dērīsum); second conjugation[1] It is spelled dīr- in a manuscript of Terence and in some biblical manuscripts.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from dē- (“down”) and rīdeō (“to laugh”).[3][2][1] De Vaan finds no good Indo-European etymology for ⟨rīdeō⟩ and calls the old link with Sanskrit व्रीडते (vrīḍate, “is shy”) gratuitous in meaning.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Plautus,[2] who has “but you'll laugh at me” in the Epidicus.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is to laugh at, laugh to scorn, scoff at or deride, as Cicero's “laugh at and despise all those people”, and absolutely to mock, as Plautus' “you are making fun of me”.[3][5][1] Lewis and Short note the proverb albīs dentibus dērīdēre, to laugh at someone openly.[5] In Petronius it is to be able to laugh, that is, to get away with it: “you'll come under my teeth, or I don't know myself, and you won't get off scot-free”.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “deride, mock, scoff at, laugh at”,[6] and the Vulgate has it of mocking the sabbaths.[5] English deride came from it in the 1520s, through French.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of mocking.[5][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of scorn.[5][8]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius of getting off scot-free.[3][8]
  • 1520s – English deride is from it.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To laugh at, deride, mock, scoff at.[3][5][1][6]
  2. To be able to laugh, get off scot-free.[3]

Word family

  • dērīdiculus
  • dērīsiō
  • dērīsor
  • dērīsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Derideo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/derideo. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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