Where does “ridicule” come from?
Ridicule comes from French ridicule, from Latin ridere meaning to laugh, with the diminutive suffix -culum, tracing to Proto-Indo-European -kos.
ridicule (English): to criticize or disapprove of someone or...
Definitions
- to criticize or disapprove of someone or...
Ancestry of “ridicule”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | ridicule | ridiculous |
| 2 | Latin | rīdiculus | (good, in the context of humor) laughable, funny, amusing, humorous |
| 3 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |