Meaning

noun a unit of apothecary weight equal to 20 grains

noun uneasiness about the fitness of an action

noun an ethical or moral principle that inhibits action

originFrom Old French scrupule, from Latin scrūpulus (“(literally) a small sharp or pointed stone; uneasiness of mind, anxiety, doubt, trouble; scruple”) and scrūpulum (“one twenty-fourth of an ounce”), diminutives of scrūpus (“a rough or sharp stone; anxiety, uneasiness”); perhaps akin to Ancient Greek σκύρος (skúros, “the chippings of stone”), from ξυρόν (xurón, “razor”), from ξύω (xúō, “to scrape”),…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0