caitiff
/ˈkeɪtɪf/
caitiff noun: a base or despicable person; a wretch.
Noun
caitiff (plural caitiffs)
- A base or despicable person; a wretch.
- "How now, you scullions and cullions: bring hither a pair of cow's hooves to out face this contumelious caitiff."1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 44
- ‘There are plenty of Huns who have defected to the Romans, seeking gold and a quiet life. One of my first tasks as paramount chief is to bring those caitiffs back and crucify them.’1989, Anthony Burgess, The Devil's Mode
- A captive or prisoner, particularly a galley slave.
- A villain, a coward or wretch.
- (Aaron Burr and Andrew Jackson ride together in Tennessee; Burr narrates): Jackson shouted at me his view of the duel. "Never read such a damned lot of nonsense as the press has been writing! All that hypocritical caterwauling for that Creole bastard (referring to Alexander Hamilton) who fought you...1973, Gore Vidal, Burr, chapter 36
Adjective
caitiff (comparative more caitiff, superlative most caitiff)
- Especially despicable; cowardly
- Beshrew those caitiff scouts that conspired to sully his honest name by such an imputation!1809, Washington Irving, Knickerbocker's History of New York
- Commingled are they with that caitiff choir
Of Angels, who have not rebellious been,
Nor faithful were to God, but were for self.1867, Dante Alighieri, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Divine Comedy
caitiff meaning in Bengali
caitiff in Bengali
- ভীরু, নীচ, ঘৃণ্য ব্যক্তি
Forms of caitiff
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | caitiffs |
| alternative form (obsolete) | catif |
| alternative form (obsolete) | cative |
| alternative form (obsolete) | catyve |
| alternative form (obsolete) | caitive |
| alternative form (obsolete) | caiteff |
| alternative form (obsolete) | caitiffe |
| alternative form (obsolete) | caytiefe |
| alternative form (obsolete) | caytiffe |
| alternative form (obsolete) | caytive |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more caitiff |
| superlative | most caitiff |
Origin of caitiff
From Middle English caitif, from Anglo-Norman caitif (“captive”), akin to Old French chaitif (French chétif) and Middle Dutch keytyf, from a Vulgar Latin *cactīvus alteration via Gaulish influence from Latin captīvus (“captive”); compare Italian cattivo (“bad, wicked”). Doublet of captive.
Questions about caitiff
- What does caitiff mean?
- Caitiff means a base or despicable person; a wretch.
- What is caitiff in Bengali?
- Caitiff in Bengali is ভীরু, নীচ, ঘৃণ্য ব্যক্তি. See Caitiff meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is caitiff?
- Caitiff can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce caitiff?
- Caitiff is pronounced /ˈkeɪtɪf/.
- What is the plural of caitiff?
- The plural of caitiff is caitiffs.
Words near caitiff in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: caitiff (page history and authors); caitiff (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-caitiff.wav.
Cite this entry: “caitiff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caitiff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.