curmudgeon

/kərˈmʌdʒən/

/kəˈmʌdʒɪn/

Other forms: curmudgeons

Old, cranky, and more than a little stubborn, a curmudgeon is the gruff, grey-haired neighbor who refuses to hand out candy at Halloween and shoos away holiday carolers with a "bah humbug!"

As fickle and stubborn as the type of person it describes, curmudgeon comes to us without a history, its origins undisclosed. It was originally believed to have come from coeur mechant, the French phrase for “evil heart,” but that theory has been long discarded. Don't worry though, you’ll know a curmudgeon when you see one: He’ll be ill-tempered and miserly, eager to shake his fist and spout disagreeable opinions.

Definitions of curmudgeon

1. noun

   a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas
   type of:

   golden ager, old person, oldster, senior citizen

   an elderly person