scruple

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ksew-
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromσκύρος“the chippings of stone”
3. Latin · derived fromscrūpulus“(literally) a small sharp or pointed stone; uneasiness of mind, anxiety, doubt, trouble; scruple”
4. Old French · derived fromscrupule
5. English todayscruple

From Old French scrupule, from Latin scrūpulus (“(literally) a small sharp or pointed stone; uneasiness of mind, anxiety, doubt, trouble; scruple”) and scrūpulum (“one twenty-fourth of an ounce”), diminutives of scrūpus (“a rough or sharp stone; anxiety, uneasiness”); perhaps akin to Ancient Greek σκύρος (skúros, “the chippings of stone”), from ξυρόν (xurón, “razor”), from ξύω (xúō, “to scrape”), from Proto-Indo-European *ksew-. Doublet of escropulo and escrupulo.

Words from the same roots