What does curst mean?
"Curst" is an older form of "cursed," serving both as the past tense and past participle of the verb "to curse" and as an adjective describing someone or something afflicted by a curse. In everyday modern English it has been almost entirely displaced by "cursed," but it remains familiar to readers of Shakespeare, the Authorized Version of the Bible, and other early modern literature, where its single syllable suited the rhythms of verse and drama. Beyond the supernatural sense, writers once used "curst" figuratively of people — a "curst" woman was shrewish and ill-tempered, as with Katherina, the famously "curst and shrewd" heroine of The Taming of the Shrew. Today the word carries a distinctly antique flavor: encountering it signals either quotation of an older text or a deliberate stylistic archaism. Its survival offers readers a small window into how English spelling and word forms were once more fluid, with variant forms like "curst" and "cursed" coexisting for centuries before one became standard.
Past tense and past participle of "curse": to have called down evil or misfortune upon someone or something.
"The witch curst the harvest, and the fields lay barren till spring."
Superseded by "cursed" in all modern standard usage.
Under a curse; doomed, unlucky, or — in older usage — bad-tempered and shrewish.
"He grumbled like some curst old man who had never known a good day."
Now found mainly in quotations of early modern literature.
Shakespeare preferred "curst" to "cursed" — it saved a syllable on stage, which is why the Bard's scolds are forever being called "shrewdly curst."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of curst
"Curst" descends from Middle English, formed from the verb "cursen" (Old English "cursian"), whose ultimate origin is uncertain, though it may be connected to Medieval Latin "cursus," a fixed series of prayers or maledictions read aloud in church. For centuries "curst" and "cursed" existed side by side as alternative forms of the past tense and participle, with poets and dramatists often favoring the shorter "curst" for metrical convenience. By the nineteenth century "cursed" had become the standard form, leaving "curst" as a chiefly literary and historical variant.
How curst is actually used
"Curst" belongs chiefly to literary and archaic register; modern writing almost always uses "cursed" instead. It survives most often in quotations of older literature — particularly Shakespeare and the King James Bible tradition — and occasionally as a deliberate archaism. As an adjective describing a bad temper, it is now rare outside historical texts.
Easily confused with curst
"Crust" is the hard outer layer of bread or the earth's surface, while "curst" means cursed or bewitched.
"Cursed" is the standard modern form of the past tense and adjective, whereas "curst" is an older, literary variant.