Dictionary

Sardonian en · ADJ

Etymology

From Latin sardonius, from Ancient Greek Σαρδόνιος (Sardónios, “Sardinian”), earlier σαρδάνιος (sardánios).

Meanings

1. (obsolete) Sardonic.
   • He gan with guilefull words her to perswade / To banish feare; and, with Sardonian smyle / Laughing on her, his false intent to shade, / Gan forth to lay his bayte […] 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Forms