Curmudʹgeon (3 syl.)

A grasping, miserly churl. Dr. Johnson gives the derivation of this word thus, “cœur mechant, unknown correspondent.” Dr. Ash, in his dictionary, says, “cœur, unknown; mechant, correspondent,” a blunder only paralleled by the schoolboy translation of the Greek, me genoito, by μη (God) γενoιτo (forbid) (Luke xx. 6).