Word of the Day: June 9, 2009 - scruple

scruple (skroo-puhl) - noun

A scruple is "a moral or ethical consideration or standard that acts as a restraining force or inhibits certain actions."

First used in the written form around 1350–1400. Latin scrūpus meant "sharp stone," and the notion of something troubling the mind like a painful stone in the shoe led to its metaphorical use for "anxiety, doubt, particularly over a moral issue." Both meanings were carried over into the diminutive form scūpulus, which also came to be used for a very small unit of weight. This passed into English via French scrupule as scruple, on the way losing the literal sense "small stone."