surquedry

Etymology

From Old French surcuiderie.

Why this word is great

SURQUEDRY — [Noun] Overweening pride; arrogance. From Old French surcuiderie, from sur- ("over-") + cuider ("to think"), implying excessive self-regard. Unlike "hubris" (which carries the weight of impending downfall) or "haughtiness" (which performs its disdain for others), surquedry is the unshakable certainty of one’s own supremacy. It is the king who mistakes his crown for the sun, the scholar who believes his library contains all truths, or the artist who deems every stroke genius—a blindness not to flaws, but to the very existence of limits, a fortress of conviction built on air.

noun

Overweening pride; arrogance.“They were faire Ladies, till they fondly ſtriu’d / With th’Heliconian maides for mayſtery; / Of whom they ouer-comen, were depriu’d / Of their proud beautie, and th’one moyity / Transform’d to fiſh, for their bold ſurquedry, / But th’vpper halfe their hew retayned ſtill, / And their ſweet skill in wonted melody; / Which euer after they abuſd to ill, / T’allure weake traueillers, whom gotten they d”