Etymology

cruelty

cru·el·ty
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Today it means: An indifference to suffering or pleasure in inflicting suffering. Full definition →

Middle English cruelte ← Old French crualté ← Latin crudelitas
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcrudelitas
  2. Old French · derived fromcrualté
  3. Middle English · inherited fromcruelte
  4. English todaycruelty

From Middle English cruelte, from Old French crualté (French cruauté), from Latin crudelitas. By surface analysis, cruel + -ty.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.