Escrupule

Escrupule, in its most common use, designates two related but distinct ideas. First, it refers to a moral hesitation or doubt about whether a proposed action is right, often grounded in conscience, religion, or social norms. A person may have scruples about lying, harming others, or violating personal or religious principles. In everyday language, to act with or without scruple describes behavior guided by or lacking in ethical concern. The sense emphasizes careful reflection and a feeling of restraint driven by ethical considerations.

Second, escrupule is also a historical unit of weight used in the apothecaries’ system. A scruple equals 20 grains, and 24 scruples make up an ounce. In modern terms, a scruple is about 1.3 grams. This unit was common in medicine and chemistry in earlier centuries but has become obsolete with the adoption of the metric system.

Etymology traces escrupule to Latin scrupulus, meaning a small, pointed stone or obstacle, which later came to denote a doubt or impediment in conscience. The term has cognates in several Romance languages, with similar meanings in ethics and, in historical contexts, in measurement.

In contemporary usage, scruple is most often encountered in formal or literary contexts to describe moral hesitation, or in historical texts when discussing old pharmacological or weight systems. The adjective scrupulous (or its equivalents) describes someone meticulous and conscientious, while the noun scruple refers to either the moral constraint or the old unit of weight, depending on context.