Etymology

atrocity

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Today it means: An extremely cruel act; a horrid act of injustice. Full definition →

Middle French atrocité ← Latin atrōcitās
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromatrōcitās
  2. Middle French · derived fromatrocité
  3. English todayatrocity

From Middle French atrocité, from Latin atrōcitās, from atrōx (“terrible, cruel”) + -tās, from āter (“matte black”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.