30%RatingSave Gender Feminine Usage Popular Culture Pronounced Pron. /kɹu.ˈɛl.ə/(English) [key·simplify] Meaning & History From the English word cruel, ultimately from Latin crudelis "hard, severe, cruel". This is the name of the antagonist, Cruella de Vil, in the 1961 Disney movie 101 Dalmatians, based on a 1956 novel by Dodie Smith. Categories canines, Disney characters, film titles, Florence and the Machine songs, invented, movies, negative
