churl

churl  (chûrl)

n.

1. A rude, boorish person. See Synonyms at boor.

2. A miserly person.

3.

a. A ceorl.

b. A medieval English peasant.

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[Middle English, from Old English ceorl, peasant.]

Word History: The word churl comes almost unchanged in meaning and pronunciation, though not in spelling, from Old English ceorl, "freeman of the lowest class." An Anglo-Saxon ceorl had a social position above a slave but below a thegn, "thane." Ceorl comes from Germanic *karilaz, whose basic meaning is "old man." In Finnish, which is not a Germanic language, the Germanic word was borrowed and survives almost unchanged as karilas, "old man." The Old Norse descendant of the Germanic word, karl, means "old man, servant," and the Old High German equivalent, karal, meaning "man, lover, husband," has become the name Karl. Middle High German karl, "freeman," was adopted into northern French as Charles, from which we have the name Charles. The Medieval Latin form Carolus is based on the Old High German karal. The fame of Carolus Magnus, "Charles the Great," or Charlemagne, added luster to the name Carolus and explains why the Slavic languages borrowed the name as their general word for "king," korol' in Russian.

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churl

Noun

1. a surly ill-bred person

2. Archaic a farm labourer [Old English ceorl]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	churl - a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement boor, Goth, tike, tyke, barbarian, peasant disagreeable person, unpleasant person - a person who is not pleasant or agreeable
	2.	churl - a selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend niggard, scrooge, skinflint hoarder - a person who accumulates things and hides them away for future use pinchgut - a niggardly person who starves himself (and others)
	3.	churl - a bad-tempered person crank, crosspatch, grouch, grump disagreeable person, unpleasant person - a person who is not pleasant or agreeable crabby person, crab - a quarrelsome grouch hothead, fire-eater - a belligerent grouch misanthrope, misanthropist - someone who dislikes people in general