Jactancy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of showing an excessive or arrogant level of confidence or bragging
2. A tendency to display boastful or arrogant behavior that overestimates one's achievements
3. An attitude characterized by overbearing pride and loud self-praise without humility

Etymology: "Jactancy" is a Latin word at heart, built on a verb meaning to throw. The Latin "jactare" was a frequentative form of "jacere", "to throw", so its basic sense was to keep tossing or hurling something about. From that physical idea came the sense of flinging oneself about, showing off, and boasting. The Latin noun "jactantia" grew out of this, and English took the word from it, adopting the sense of bragging that the Latin already carried. The English word keeps close to its Latin meaning: it names excessive self-advertisement rather than any literal throwing. French has an equivalent, "jactance", which follows the same path from Latin.