PETULANT

PRONUNCIATION: (PECH-uh-lent)

MEANING: adjective: Bad-tempered; cranky.

ETYMOLOGY: [From Latin petere (to seek, assail). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly), which also gave us feather, petition, compete, perpetual, propitious, pteridology, pinnate, and lepidopterology. Earliest documented use: 1598.

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false starts:
petulant = having petals? like a petunia?
petulant = sings like Ms Clark?
petulant = mildly explosive, even gassy, as in "hoist by his own petard"?

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PESTULANT - afflicted with two Pharaonic Plagues simultaneously: Pestilence, and Boils (pustules)