Where does “despitefully” come from?
Despitefully comes from English despite and the suffix -ful, tracing to Latin despectus, past participle of despicere meaning to look down on, from specere to look and de down.
despitefully (English): In a despiteful manner; spitefully
Definitions
- In a despiteful manner; spitefully
Ancestry of “despitefully”, step by step
despitefully traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English despiteful
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | despiteful | Full of despite; expressing malice or... |
| 2 | English | despite | In spite of, notwithstanding, regardless of;... |
| 3 | Middle English | despit | — |
| 4 | Old French | despit | — |
| 5 | Latin | dēspectus | disdained, despised |
| 6 | Latin | dēspiciō | to look down upon |
| 7 | Latin | dē- | of; from |
| 8 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 9 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 10 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |