cruelte
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Middle English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French cruauté, from cruel. Doublet of crudelite and equivalent to cruel + -te.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
cruelte (plural crueltes)
- The state of being cruel; cruelness, cruelty, ruthlessness.
- a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knight's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 1543–1544:
- How longe Juno thurgh thy crueltee, / Woltow werreyen Thebes the citee?.
- For how long, Juno, with your cruelty, / Will you assail the city of Thebes?
- Viciousness, ferociousness; the state of being fierce.
- (rare) Strictness, unforgivingness.
- (rare) Injuriousness, painfulness.
Usage notes[edit]
This word, as in modern English, is more common than its synonym cruelnesse.
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]
- “crūeltẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.
Categories:
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English doublets
- Middle English terms suffixed with -te
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English terms with quotations
- Middle English terms with rare senses
- enm:Emotions