caitiff
/ˈkeɪtɪf/ noun, adjective
Forms caitiffs catif cative catyve caitive caiteff caitiffe caytiefe caytiffe caytive
- noun A base or despicable person; a wretch.
- noun (obsolete) A captive or prisoner, particularly a galley slave.
- noun (archaic) A villain, a coward or wretch.
- adjective Especially despicable; cowardly
Etymology
From Middle English caitif, from Anglo-Norman caitif (“captive”), akin to Old French chaitif (French chétif) and Middle Dutch keytyf, from a Vulgar Latin *cactīvus alteration via Gaulish influence from Latin captīvus (“captive”); compare Italian cattivo (“bad, wicked”). Doublet of captive.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- adjective Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable.
- noun A captive; a prisoner. [Obs.]
- noun A wretched or unfortunate man. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Etymology [OE. caitif, cheitif, captive, miserable, OF. caitif, chaitif, captive, mean, wretched, F. chétif, fr. L. captivus captive, fr. capere to take, akin to E. heave. See Heave, and cf. Captive.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “caitiff”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details