Word of the Day

: August 9, 2009

cantankerous

adjective kan-TANK-uh-rus

What It Means

: difficult or irritating to deal with

cantankerous in Context

The workers were glad when their cantankerous old boss finally retired, and they have not missed his browbeating criticisms and endless complaints.

Did You Know?

It's irritating, but we're not absolutely sure where "cantankerous" comes from. Etymologists think it probably derived from the Middle English word "contack" (or "contek"), which meant "contention" or "strife." Their idea is that "cantankerous" may have started out as "contackerous" but was later modified as a result of association or confusion with "rancorous" (meaning "spiteful") and "cankerous" (which describes something that spreads corruption of the mind or spirit). Considering that a cantankerous person generally has the spite associated with "contack" and "rancor," and the noxious and sometimes painful effects of a "canker," that theory seems plausible. What we can say with conviction is that "cantankerous" has been used in English since at least the late 1700s.