Pronounced: CAP-ree-ol, noun
Notes: I did not know this word
Yesterday’s word
The word contumely is “harsh language or treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt”
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1300s
Background / Comments
If you know Shakespeare well, you may have known our word. It occurs in the famous “To be or not to be” speech of Hamlet. It also occurs in the Canterbury Tales (The Parson’s Tale). Our word was at first spelled contumelie; it came from Middle French, which came from the Latin word contumelia.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 