decry

The story

1. Old French · derived fromdescrier“to shout”
2. Middle French · borrowed fromdecrier“to denigrate; depreciate”
3. English todaydecry

C. 1600, from Middle French decrier (“to denigrate; depreciate”), from Old French descrier (“to shout”) (modern décrier). Doublet of descry. The pejorative meaning had not been present in the Middle English loan, but it was present in the French word from at least the 13th century, with a meaning of "to denigrate; depreciate; to announce the depreciation or suppression of a currency", presumably from the interpretation of de- as meaning "down, inferior".

Words from the same roots