Scurrilous means making damaging and indecent accusations. A scurrilous rumour, scurrilous attacks, scurrilous and untrue.
It combines two charges at once, since a scurrilous claim is both coarse and defamatory. The Latin behind it means like a buffoon, which is where the coarseness comes in.
1adjectivescurrilousMaking damaging and indecent accusations.
“The magazine was sued for printing scurrilous lies about the judge.”
scurrilous is a quality.
The Latin scurra was a buffoon paid to mock people at dinner for laughs. Scurrilous words are the cruel kind he specialised in.
hooks ontobuffoon
Latin scurrilis means buffoon-like, from scurra, a buffoon.
Latin
scurrīlis — buffoon-like
English, today
scurrilous
Built from
From Latin scurrīlis (“buffoon-like”) + -ous, from scurra (“a buffoon”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA