'Contempt' is Latin for 'thoroughly scorned' — from 'temnere' (to slight), intensified by 'com-.'
The feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn.
From Old French 'contempt,' borrowed from Latin 'contemptus' (scorn, disdain, the state of being despised), the past participle used as a noun, from 'contemnere' (to despise utterly, to treat as worthless, to scorn), composed of 'com-' (intensive prefix, expressing thoroughness or completeness) + 'temnere' (to slight, to despise, to treat as of no account). The origin of 'temnere' is debated; the most credible reconstruction connects it to PIE *temh₁- (to cut) — making contempt an 'intense cutting down' of another's worth to nothing. Compare Sanskrit 'tamnoti' (he cuts) and Greek 'temnein' (τέμνειν, to cut), which gives 'anatomy' (a cutting up) and 'tmesis' (a cutting apart). Legal 'contempt of court' — disobedience to a court's
'Contempt of court' preserves the word's oldest legal sense — disrespect for the authority of the court. In English law since the 12th century, showing contempt (literally 'scorning') the court's authority was punishable by imprisonment. The legal phrase has outlasted the word's everyday use in many contexts.
Words closest in meaning, ranked by similarity