Churlishness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A manner characterized by rudeness and a lack of refinement indicates an unwillingness to engage graciously in social contexts
2. The quality of behaving in a rude, ill-mannered, or ungracious way
3. A disposition marked by bad temper, lack of civility, and unkindness in social interactions

Etymology: Churlishness began as a word about class rather than manners. Its ancestor, Old English "ceorl," named a free peasant or common man, the lowest rank of free-born people, as opposed to a noble. Over time "ceorl" slid from a neutral label for a commoner into a term for someone uncouth, and "churlish" came to describe the behaviour that was assumed to go with low birth: surly, rude, ungracious. "Churlishness" is the plain noun formed from that adjective by adding the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality. Its Middle English forms show the word was already in use before the modern spelling settled, and the sense of boorish rudeness had taken hold by then, so the noun carries the same social snobbery that the adjective does.

Synonyms: rudeness, boorishness, surliness, ungraciousness, impoliteness

Antonyms: courtesy, politeness, graciousness, refinement, civilization