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''caitiff'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125204041-00-⌔

caitiff - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

caitiff (plural caitiffs)

  • A base or despicable person; a wretch.
    • ✤ ‘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.’1
    • ✤ (After answering no to Alvina’s question) ‘Hmm, I see. A result most heathenish and gross. Then there is nothing more to say about this tedious reckoning. Be gone from here. Pernicious caitiff.’2
  • (obsolete) A captive or prisoner, particularly a galley slave.
    • ✤ “How now, you scullions and cullions: bring hither a pair of cow’s hooves to out face this contumelious caitiff.”3
  • (archaic) A villain, a coward or wretch.
    • 1973, Gore Vidal, Burr , chapter 36:
      • ✤ (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 of his own free will, just like a gentleman which he wasn’t, if you’ll forgive me, Colonel! I know you couldn’t have met him unless you thought he was one, but he was not, Sir. He was the worst man in this union, as you, Sir, are the best. The best, and that goes for that pusillanimous spotted caitiff of a president (referring to Thomas Jefferson) we got.

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!4
    • ✤ Commingled are they with that caitiff choir
      Of Angels, who have not rebellious been,
      Nor faithful were to God, but were for self.      5
    • ✤ Is Honor gone into his grave?
      Hath Faith become a caitiff knave
      And Selfhood turned into a slave
      To work in Mammon’s cave,
      Fair Lady?      6

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkeɪtɪf/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1989, Anthony Burgess, The Devil’s Mode: ↩

  2. 2009, Dark Souls, From Software: ↩

  3. 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 44: ↩

  4. 1809, Washington Irving, Knickerbocker’s History of New York: ↩

  5. 1867, Dante Alighieri, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Divine Comedy: ↩

  6. 1875, Sidney Lanier, The Symphony: ↩

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