Cantankerous is an adjective which means bloody-minded, stubborn, obstinate, obstructive, unwilling to cooperate and uncooperative. A cantankerous person is one who has and shows a bad temper and a difficult and contrary disposition. It is not easy to deal with a cantankerous person.
Some other synonyms of the word cantankerous are ill-tempered, quarrelsome, disagreeable, difficult to handle, bad-tempered, crabbed, cranky, cross, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, irascible, irritable, nasty, mean, peevish, petulant, querulous, snappish, snappy, surly, testy, ugly, waspish and crabby.
The word cantankerous is believed to have been derived from the Middle English word contek. The word contek means dissension. It is the same root from which words such as rancorous and cankerous have also been derived.
It has also possibly been derived from the Anglo-Norman word contec. This, in turn, has probably been derived from the Latin word contactus. This word is the past participle of the Latin verb contigere, which means to touch.
Some other synonyms of the word cantankerous are ill-tempered, quarrelsome, disagreeable, difficult to handle, bad-tempered, crabbed, cranky, cross, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, irascible, irritable, nasty, mean, peevish, petulant, querulous, snappish, snappy, surly, testy, ugly, waspish and crabby.
The word cantankerous is believed to have been derived from the Middle English word contek. The word contek means dissension. It is the same root from which words such as rancorous and cankerous have also been derived.
It has also possibly been derived from the Anglo-Norman word contec. This, in turn, has probably been derived from the Latin word contactus. This word is the past participle of the Latin verb contigere, which means to touch.
