Pococurante

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌpəʊ.kəʊ.kjʊəˈɹæn.ti/

Definitions

1. A person who is indifferent, apathetic, or nonchalant about matters that might concern others, showing a lack of interest or concern
2. A person who remains unmoved by circumstances or opinions that typically provoke emotional response in others, displaying profound indifference
3. Someone characterized by a studied detachment from worldly concerns and an unwillingness to express care or enthusiasm about matters of general importance

Etymology: Voltaire invented this word, and he did it with a character rather than a dictionary entry. In his 1759 satire "Candide," the title hero visits Venice and meets a nobleman named Pococurante, a wealthy senator who has grown bored with everything. He owns a fine art collection and a library, yet he dismisses almost all of it with a shrug. The name Voltaire gave him is Italian, built from "poco," meaning "little," and "curante," meaning "caring." Its literal sense is "little caring," which fits the character exactly. From the novel, the name passed into French as "pococurante," and English later borrowed it from there. The adjective now describes anyone who meets the world with the same indifference, showing little interest in matters that others find important. Because the character was so memorable, the word became a ready label for that stance, and readers have used it ever since without needing to know the novel.

Synonyms: apathetic, indifferent

Antonyms: concerned