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Added 9 October 2026

saturnine

/ˈsætənaɪn/ adjective

adjective Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about saturnine at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Bitter or scornful.
the face was saturnine and swarthy, and the sensual lips...twisted with disdain
Showing a brooding ill humor.
a dark scowl

Origin

From Middle English saturnine, satournine, satournyne, saturnin, saturnyn, saturnyne (“pertaining to or under the influence of the planet Saturn; line on the palm of the hand associated with Saturn”), from Old French saturnine, saturnin (modern French saturnin (“of, pertaining to, resembling or containing lead, plumbic”)), or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin Sāturnīnus, from Sāturnus (“the Roman god Saturn; the planet Saturn”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’); analysable as Saturn + -ine.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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