cantankerous English · revision 2476

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kænˈtæŋkəɹəs/, /kənˈtæŋkəɹəs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably an alteration of Middle English ''contakour'' or ''conteckour'' “troublemaker” (about 1300),^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) influenced by words such as ''rancorous'' and ''cankerous''.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995) The Middle English word comes through Anglo-French ''contec'' “discord, strife”, perhaps from Old French ''contechier''.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) Merriam-Webster derives the adjective from obsolete ''contack'' “contention”,^(MW Collegiate) and Random House suggests the influence of ''contentious'' and ''rancorous''.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Ill-natured and quarrelsome (1772).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The lexicographer Francis Grose called it a Wiltshire word.^(Etymonline) It has kept its first meaning, and it is often applied to elderly people, though also to animals and machines that are hard to handle.^(Wiktionary)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1772 – ill-natured and quarrelsome.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1868 – ''cantankerously'', ''cantankerousness''.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Bad-tempered and quarrelsome.^(AHD)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Difficult to deal with or handle.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cantankerously]]

+ * [[cantankerousness]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rancorous]]

+ * [[contentious]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}