pococuranten.adj.

Brit.

/ˌpəʊkəʊkjᵿˈranti/, U.S.

/ˈˌpoʊkoʊˌkjəˈrɑn(t)i/

Origin: Probably of multiple origins. A borrowing from Italian. Probably also partly from a proper name. Etymons: Italian poco curante; proper name Pococurante.

Etymology: < Italian poco curante caring little (early 17th cent. or earlier) < poco poco adv. + curante , present participle of curare to care (a1294 in reflexive use; 13th cent. in sense ‘to cure’; < classical Latin cūrāre cure v.¹), probably via the name of Seigneur Pococurante, a fictional apathetic Venetian senator in Voltaire's Candide (1759).

A. n.

A careless, indifferent, or nonchalant person.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > indifference > [noun] > one who is indifferent

pococurante1762

bore1766

Laodicean1772

nil admirari1821

come day, go day (God send Sunday)1833

Gallio1850

don't-care1854

indifferentist1866

1762 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VI. xx. 85 Leave we my mother—(truest of all the Poco-curante's of her sex!)—careless about it.

1779 H. Thrale Jrnl. 1 May in Thraliana (1942) I. 382 He seems to have no Affections, and that won't do with me—I feel great Discomfort in the Society of a Pococurante.

1860 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 708/2 I really cannot afford to hazard my reputation as a poco-curante.

1949 V. W. von Hagen South Amer. called Them iii. xvii. 219 If the Reverend Dr. Samuel Butler could have composed a single line to describe him..he might have put: ‘rat-catcher and pococurante’.

1995 Guardian 26 May (Friday Review section) 8/3 The dreamy pococurante needs to bluff his way into employment at a top National School.

B. adj.

Careless, indifferent, nonchalant.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > indifference > [adjective]

carelessOE

negligentc1390

recklessc1425

neutral1494

indifferent?1520

undifferentc1540

uncareful1560

unmindful1560

unaddicted1583

unmindful1585

perfunctory1602

disinteressed1603

come day, go day (God send Sunday)1616

disinteresteda1631

Laodicean1633

vacanta1639

unconcerned1645

easy1649

mawkish1679

indifferinga1694

concernless1706

unminding1714

nonchalanta1734

coolrife1768

uninterested1772

uncaring1786

tooth-picking1814

pococurante1815

pococurantish1821

insouciant1829

non-committal1829

don't-care1830

promiscuous1837

don't-carish1838

unpartial1840

noncurantist1882

noncuranta1913

casual1916

Gallionic1920

disengaged1958

1815 T. Moore Mem. (1853) II. 76 That idlest of all poco-curante places, Dublin.

1823 W. M. Praed Troubadour in Poet. Wks. (1844) 102 Poco-curante in all cases Of furious foes, or pretty faces.

1881 Sat. Rev. 9 July 32/1 Lord Granville's pleasant faculty of pococurante conversation.

1948 P. A. Scholes Great Dr. Burney I. xxxvii. 379 Some odd news, which illustrates, let us proudly say, not the pococurante spirit but the sangfroid of our great British nation.

1985 Pick of Punch 25/1 A gust of river wind sprayed my entire shirtfront with damp powdered sugar; I remained placidly pococurante.

Derivatives

ˌpococuˈrantish adj. careless, indifferent, or nonchalant in character.

ΘΚΠ