(răngˈkəl)
verb ran·kled,
ran·kling,
ran·kles verb, intransitive- To cause persistent irritation or resentment.
- To become sore or inflamed; fester.
verb, transitive To embitter; irritate.
Word History: A persistent resentment, a festering sore, and a little snake are all coiled together in the history of the word
rankle. “A little snake” is the sense of the Latin word
dracunculus to which
rankle can be traced,
dracunculus being a diminutive of
dracō, “snake.” The Latin word passed into Old French, as
draoncle, having probably already developed the sense “festering sore,” because some of these sores resembled little snakes in their shape or bite. The verb
draoncler, “to fester,” was then formed in Old French. The noun and verb developed alternate forms without the
d-, and both were borrowed into Middle English, the noun
rancle being recorded in a work written around 1190, the verb
ranclen, in a work probably composed about 1300. Both words had literal senses having to do with festering sores. The noun is not recorded after the 16th century, but the verb went on to develop the figurative senses having to do with resentment and bitterness with which we are all too familiar.
