A rude or impolite person, or historically, a peasant or person of low social status; someone who behaves without courtesy or kindness.
From Old English 'ceorl,' meaning a man of low birth or peasant. In medieval class hierarchies, churls were commoners below nobles and clergy. Over time, the term's primary meaning shifted from social status to describing rude character.
The word 'churl' reveals how class prejudice gets baked into language—medieval society associated lower-class peasants with rudeness, so the word's meaning evolved from describing your social position to describing your personality, cementing an assumption that poverty equals incivility.
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