Callousness

From Latin "callus" / "callum" (hardened skin, a thickening from friction). The literal callus of a worker’s hand became a metaphor for feelings worn hard — a heart that no longer registers what should hurt.

  1. noun · /KAL-us-nis/

    An unfeeling hardness toward the suffering of others.

    The vice of not caring rather than actively wishing harm — the shrug where sympathy should be.

    The report’s callousness was in its language: displaced families became “affected units” to be “processed.”

    Cruelty wants to wound; callousness simply doesn’t notice or mind the wound. The cruel are engaged with their victim; the callous are indifferent to them.