Words / C / General

cantankerous

adjective/kanˈtaŋkərəs/

C2CEFR level
60/100Rarity: rare
NeutralRegister

Bad-tempered, argumentative and difficult to deal with.

The cantankerous old man complained about the noise, the weather and the tea alike.

Similar: irascible, crotchety, quarrelsome

Origin: Uncertain, perhaps a blend of Middle English contek 'strife' with rancorous.

Topic: ill-temper in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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