acrimonious

The story

From acrimony + -ous; compare French acrimonieux (“acrimonious”), from Latin ācrimōniōsus (“acrimonious”), from ācrimōnia (“pungency, sharpness; acrimony, austerity”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning “full of; prone to”, forming adjectives from nouns) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-went- or *-wont- + *-to-). Ācrimōnia is derived from Latin ācer (“sharp; bitter, sour”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱrós (“sharp”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + *-rós (suffix forming adjectives from Caland system roots)) + Latin -mōnia (the feminine form of -mōnium (suffix forming collective nouns and nouns designating legal status or obligation), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-mō (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs)).

First known use, by meaning

• from early 17th c. Angry, acid, and sharp in delivering argumentative replies: bitter, mean-spirited, sharp in language or tone.