'Cynic' is Greek for 'dog-like' — Diogenes embraced the insult and lived like a shameless dog.
A person who believes that people are motivated purely by self-interest; a person who distrusts or disparages the motives of others. Originally, a member of an ancient Greek philosophical school founded by Antisthenes and exemplified by Diogenes.
From Latin 'Cynicus,' from Greek 'Kynikos' (Κυνικός), meaning dog-like. The name was applied to followers of Antisthenes and especially Diogenes of Sinope, who advocated a life of extreme simplicity and rejection of social conventions. The connection to 'kyon' (κύων, dog) may refer to the Cynosarges gymnasium where Antisthenes taught, or to the Cynics' deliberately dog-like behavior — living
The PIE root *ḱwón- (dog) that produced Greek 'kyon' also produced Latin 'canis' (dog), which gave English 'canine,' 'kennel,' and 'canary' (the Canary Islands were named for their large dogs, not their birds — the birds were named after the islands). So 'cynic' and 'canine' are etymological cousins, both meaning 'dog-like.'
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