A person who is contrite may have rubbed someone the wrong way and
caused bruised feelings—and there is a hint about the origins of the
word in that thought.
Contrite came to English by way of Anglo-French from the Latin verb
conterere, meaning "to grind" or "to bruise."
Conterere, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix
com-, meaning "with" or "together," and
terere,
"to rub." If you've guessed that
trite is a cousin of
contrite (through
terere), you are correct. Other
terere descendants in English include
detriment and very possibly the familiar verb
try.
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