Etymograph

English

scelerat

Scelerat comes from French scélérat ‘villain, criminal, scoundrel’, from Latin scelerāre ‘to pollute, defile’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skel- ‘to curve, bend’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skel-1‘to curve, bend’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skel-os ~ *skel-es-os1‘curve, bending’uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skelos1uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscelus2‘crime’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscelerāre2‘to pollute, defile’next step skipped: Latin scelerō
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscelerātus2‘a criminal’past participle of scelerāre
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentscélérat2‘villain, criminal, scoundrel’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1715scelerat2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin scelus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English scelerat
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1715, George Cheyne, Of the Philosophical Principles of Reveal’d Religion. Coroll: “Hence it is, that Scelerats, can by no Arts,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skel-Wiktionary, Latin scelus‘to curve, bend’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skel-os ~ *skel-es-osWiktionary, Latin scelus‘curve, bending’uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skelosWiktionary, Latin scelusuncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscelusWiktionary, English scelerat‘crime’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscelerāreWiktionary, English scelerat‘to pollute, defile’next step skipped: Latin scelerō
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscelerātusWiktionary, English scelerat‘a criminal’past participle of scelerāre
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentscélératWiktionary, English scelerat‘villain, criminal, scoundrel’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1715sceleratWiktionary, English scelerat. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1715, George Cheyne, Of the Philosophical Principles of Reveal’d Religion. Coroll: “Hence it is, that Scelerats, can by no Arts,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *skel- ‘to curve, bend’

shall, squeal, 3 more

Today it means

noun A criminal, a villain.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “scelerat”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin scelus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *skel- / scelerat

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