haughty

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈhɔti/ UK /ˈhɔːti/ See IPA manual

Freq #27644

Meanings

1

adj
Acting superior to others; arrogant and full of contempt.

She gave the waiter a haughty look and demanded the best table in the room.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · acting superior to others;... arrogant disdainful conceited supercilious

Word family

Forms haughtierhaughtiesthaughtiness

Simplified etymology

Haughty entered English in the late Middle English period and derives from Latin altus, meaning “high,” via French haut.

Etymology

From earlier hauty, haultic, with spelling change in imitation of English naughty and English high, from Middle English hautein, hautain (with -ein, -ain becoming -y through the form hautenesse standing for *hauteinnesse; see haughtiness), from Middle English haute (“self-important”), from Old French haut, hault (“high, lofty”), from Frankish *hauh, *hōh (“high, lofty, proud”) and Latin altus (“high, deep”).

*kewk- Proto-Indo-European hautein Middle English haute Middle English haut Old French *hauh frk altus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# haughty

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈhɔti/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhɔːti/
**Frequency rank:** 27644

## Meanings
1. Acting superior to others; arrogant and full of contempt.

## Examples
- She gave the waiter a haughty look and demanded the best table in the room.

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kewk-
- Root: hautein
- Root: haute
- Root: haut
- Root: *hauh
- Root: altus

## Etymology
From earlier hauty, haultic, with spelling change in imitation of English naughty and English high, from Middle English hautein, hautain (with -ein, -ain becoming -y through the form hautenesse standing for *hauteinnesse; see haughtiness), from Middle English haute (“self-important”), from Old French haut, hault (“high, lofty”), from Frankish *hauh, *hōh (“high, lofty, proud”) and Latin altus (“high, deep”).

## AI Etymology
Haughty is from earlier hauty, haultic, with spelling change in imitation of English naughty and English high, from Middle English hautein, hautain (with -ein, -ain becoming -y through the form hautenesse standing for *hauteinnesse; see haughtiness), from Middle English haute (“self-important”), from Old French haut, hault (“high, lofty”), from Frankish *hauh, *hōh (“high, lofty, proud”) and Latin altus (“high, deep”). Important recorded forms include *kewk- (Proto-Indo-European), hautein (Middle English), haute (Middle English), haut (Old French), *hauh (frk), and altus (Latin). Current senses include acting superior to others; arrogant and full of contempt.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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