Wordwyrt

condescend

/ˌkɒndɪˈsend/kon-dih-SEND
/ˌkɑndɪˈsɛnd/kahn-dih-SEND

Meaningto climb down with (others)

Common meaning: to stoop to a lower level, often smugly

‘with, together’ + ‘down, away, off’ + ‘to climb’ → condescend

Journey through time

  1. Latinscandō, scānsum‘to climb’
  2. Middle Englishcondescendensource
  3. Englishcondescend‘to stoop to a lower level, often smugly’ · today

con- also in: convexconveyconcaveconcealconcede

de- also in: deterdecampdecidededucedefame

scend also in: ascenddescend

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin scandō ‘to climb’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry scandō, p. 1639 · dictionary scan

Roots

Related words

ascenddescend

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