rancour

First attested as Middle English rancour in the early 13th century, from Old French rancor, from Latin rancor (“rancidity, grudge, rancor”), from ranceō (“be rotten or putrid, stink”), from which also English rancid.[1]

rancour (countable and uncountable, plural rancours)

1. Britain and Canada spelling of rancor
   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:

     By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.

• rancour in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

• rankor, rauncour, rancor, rankowre, rancur, rankour

From Old French rancor, from Latin rancor.

• IPA^(key): /ranˈkuːr/, /ˈrankur/
• (Late ME) IPA^(key): /ˈrankər/

rancour

1. Jealousy, ire, towards someone; rancour (also as a metaphorical figure)
2. (rare) Rancidity; something which smells vile.
3. (rare) A belief that one is engaging in wrongdoing.

• English: rancour, rancor
• Scots: rancour

• “rancǒur (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-30.

rancour f (oblique plural rancours, nominative singular rancour, nominative plural rancours)

1. Late Anglo-Norman spelling of rancur

   il se douterent qe nous eussiens conceu vers eux rancour & indignacion