An archaic or obsolete shortened form referring to contempt or the act of showing contempt.
From Latin contemptus (contempt), shortened in medieval English. This clipped form rarely appears in modern usage, representing how longer Latin-derived words were sometimes abbreviated in Middle English.
This word is so archaic that even most historical dictionaries barely mention it—it's the kind of fossil word that shows us how language changes and how forms get abandoned when longer alternatives become standard.
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