Etymology

cruel

cru·el
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Today it means: Intentionally causing or reveling in pain and suffering; merciless, heartless. Full definition →

Middle English cruel ← Old French cruel ← Latin crūdēlis
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcrūdēlis“hard, severe, cruel”
  2. Old French · derived fromcruel
  3. Middle English · inherited fromcruel
  4. English todaycruel

From Middle English cruel, borrowed from Old French cruel, from Latin crūdēlis (“hard, severe, cruel”), akin to crūdus (“raw, crude”); see crude.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.