642: pejorative Sep 10, 2016

It's easy to think of insults that are body parts, but not much variety about which ones. While calling someone 'a foot' is not terrible offensive, it is still pejorative. 'Pejorative' comes from the past participle of the Latin 'pejorare', a verb meaning, "to make or become worse", from the irregular comparative, 'pejor' meaning 'worse'. Through the Indo European root, the word is related to the Sanskrit 'padyate' for 'he falls', but also to the Latin 'ped-, pes' which means 'foot'.