different between skittish vs mercurial

English

Etymology

Probably from skite (“to move lightly and hurriedly; to move suddenly, particularly in an oblique direction (Scotland, Northern England)”) +? -ish; compare skitter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sk?t??/
• (T-flapping) IPA^(key): [?sk????]
• Hyphenation: skit?tish

Adjective

skittish (comparative more skittish, superlative most skittish)

1. Easily scared or startled; timid.

   The cat likes people he knows, but he is skittish around strangers.

   • 1557, Roger Edgeworth, Sermons Very Fruitfull, Godly, and Learned, London: Robert Caly, The fiftenth treatice or Sermon,^[1]

     All such be like a skittish starting horse, whiche coming ouer a bridge, wil start for a shadowe, or for a stone lying by him, and leapeth ouer on the other side into the water, & drowneth both horse and man.

2. Wanton; changeable; fickle
   • c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene 3,^[2]

     How some men creep in skittish fortune’s hall,

     Whiles others play the idiots in her eyes!

   • 1785, William Cowper, The Task, London: J. Johnson, Book 2, p. 69,^[3]

     […] ’Tis pitiful

     To court a grin, when you should wooe a soul;

     To break a jest, when pity would inspire

     Pathetic exhortation; and t’ address

     The skittish fancy with facetious tales,

     When sent with God’s commission to the heart.

3. Difficult to manage; tricky.
   • 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Book 2, Chapter 15,^[4]

     For everybody’s family doctor was remarkably clever, and was understood to have immeasurable skill in the management and training of the most skittish or vicious diseases.

Synonyms

• (easily scared or startled): spookish, jumpy, skittery, skitterish, squirrelly

Derived terms

• skittishly
• skittishness

Translations

See also

• startle

English

Etymology

Noun sense 1 (“(obsolete) plant known as mercury”) is from Middle English mercurial, mercuryal (“a plant, probably the goosefoot (Chenopodium); (possibly) dog's mercury (Mercurialis perennis)”), from Anglo-Norman mercurial and Old French mercurial, or directly from their etymon Latin mercuri?lis (“a plant, probably annual mercury (Mercurialis annua)”), from mercuri?lis (“pertaining to the Roman god Mercury”, adjective), from Mercurius (“the Roman god Mercury”) + -?lis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns).

Later adjective and noun uses may have been directly derived from Latin mercuri?lis (adjective), whence Middle English mercurial, Mercurial (“under the astrological influence of the planet Mercury”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m???kj??.??.?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /m??kj?.?i.?l/, /-?kj?-/
• Hyphenation: mer?cu?ri?al

Noun

mercurial (plural mercurials)

1. (obsolete) Any of the plants known as mercury, especially the annual mercury or French mercury (Mercurialis annua). [13th–17th c.]
2. (astrology) A person born under the influence of the planet Mercury; hence, a person having an animated, lively, quick-witted or volatile character. [from 16th c.]
3. (chemistry) A chemical compound containing mercury.
4. (pharmacology, historical) A preparation of mercury, especially as a treatment for syphilis. [from 17th c.]

Alternative forms

• mercuriall (obsolete)

Translations

Adjective

mercurial (comparative more mercurial, superlative most mercurial)

1. (comparable) Having a lively or volatile character; animated, changeable, quick-witted. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: fickle, unpredictable
2. (not comparable, astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Mercury; having the characteristics of a person under such influence (see adjective sense 1). [from 16th c.]
3. (not comparable, astronomy) Pertaining to the planet Mercury. [from 14th c.]
5. (not comparable, chemistry) Of or pertaining to the element mercury or quicksilver; containing mercury. [from 16th c.]
6. (not comparable, medicine) Caused by the action of mercury or a mercury compound.
7. (not comparable, Roman mythology) Pertaining to Mercury, the Roman god of, among other things, commerce, financial gain, communication, and thieves and trickery; hence (comparable), money-making; crafty. [from 15th c.]

Alternative forms

• mercuriall (obsolete)
• (pertaining to the Roman god Mercury or planet Mercury): Mercurial

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Notes

References

Further reading

• Mercurialis (plant) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• mercury (element) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mercury (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mercury (planet) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Interlingua

Adjective

mercurial (not comparable)

1. mercurial, pertaining to mercury (metal)

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mercuri?lis, Mercuri?lis (“pertaining to the Roman god Mercury”).

Noun

mercurial (uncountable)

1. (botany) A plant belonging to the genus Chenopodium; a goosefoot.

   Synonym: mercurie

Alternative forms

• mercuriale

Adjective

mercurial

1. (astrology, astronomy) Pertaining to or under the influence of the planet Mercury.

Alternative forms

• Mercurial

Descendants

• English: mercurial

References

• “mercuri?l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2019.
• “Mercuri?l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2019.

Romanian

Etymology

From French mercuriel, from Latin mercurialis.

Adjective

mercurial m or n (feminine singular mercurial?, masculine plural mercuriali, feminine and neuter plural mercuriale)

1. mercurial

Declension

Spanish

Adjective

mercurial (plural mercuriales)

1. mercurial