cynic English · revision 158

5 Oct 2026, 22:07 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, meanings, word family, related words” current version
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈsɪnɪk/^(Wiktionary)
+ 
  ==Etymology==
− First recorded in the 1540s,^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) originally of the ancient school of philosophers founded by Antisthenes.^(Etymonline) It is [[bor|la|cynicus]] (perhaps partly via [[frm|cynique]]),^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|grc|κυνικός|tr=kunikós|t=dog-like, currish]],^(OED 1989)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|κύων|tr=kúōn|t=dog]],^(OED 1989)^(AHD) [[der|ine-pro|*kwon-|t=dog]].^(Etymonline)
+ It is [[bor|la|cynicus]] (perhaps partly via [[frm|cynique]]),^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|grc|κυνικός|tr=kunikós|t=dog-like, currish]],^(OED 1989)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|κύων|tr=kúōn|t=dog]],^(OED 1989)^(AHD) [[der|ine-pro|*kwon-|t=dog]].^(Etymonline)
  
− The name probably referred originally to the Kynosarges, the gymnasium outside Athens where Antisthenes taught,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) but it was popularly taken in the sense “dog-like”, in allusion to the coarse manners of the philosophers.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) The sense “sneering, sarcastic person” dates from the 1590s.^(Etymonline)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ A member of the school of philosophers founded by Antisthenes,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) recorded in the plural in a work published between 1547 and 1564.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The name probably referred originally to the Kynosarges, the gymnasium outside Athens where Antisthenes taught,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) but it was popularly taken in the sense “dog-like”, in allusion to the coarse manners of the philosophers.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) The American Heritage Dictionary connects it with the nickname ''kuōn'' “dog” given to Diogenes, the most famous Cynic.^(AHD) From 1596 the word meant a faultfinder,^(AHD)^(OED 1989) which developed into the modern sense: a person who believes that people are motivated only by selfishness.^(AHD)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1547–64 – the Cynic philosophers.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1590s – “faultfinder; sneering, sarcastic person”.^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1630s – adjective.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A person who believes that people are motivated wholly by self-interest.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A person with a scornfully negative outlook.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(history)'' A member of a school of ancient Greek philosophers who held virtue to be the only good, achieved through self-control.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Cynical.^(AHD)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[cynical]]
+ * [[cynicism]]
  
  ==References==