Ungrateful means not showing thanks for what was given. An ungrateful child, deeply ungrateful, sound ungrateful.
It is a real reproach and a common family one, and I do not want to sound ungrateful is the standard way of complaining about a gift. It describes the showing rather than the feeling — somebody can be grateful and appear ungrateful, which is most of the trouble. Note ingratitude, which is the noun and does not match the adjective in shape; and thankless, which describes the task rather than the person.
1adjectiveungratefulNot showing thanks for what was given.
“We drove her to the airport at five in the morning, and she complained the whole way; how ungrateful!”
synonyms: thankless, unappreciative
ungrateful is a quality of thanklessness.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʷerH- — to express approval, praise; to elevate
Latin
grātus — agreeable, pleasing; beloved, dear; grateful, thankful
English
grateful
English, today
ungrateful
From un- + grateful. grateful comes from grate + -ful. Grate is a Latin grātus (“agreeable, pleasing; beloved, dear; grateful, thankful”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷerH- (“to express approval, praise; to elevate”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA