"one who expresses derision or mocking scorn," late 15c., agent noun from scoff (v.). Formerly often with religion as an object.
Entries linking to scoffer
scoff v.
mid-14c., "jest, make light of something;" mid-15c., "ridicule, mock," from a noun meaning "contemptuous ridicule" (c. 1300), which is from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse skaup, skop "mockery, ridicule," Middle Danish skof "jest, mockery;" perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skub-, *skuf- (source also of Old English scop "poet," Old High German scoph "fiction, sport, jest, derision"), from PIE *skeubh- "to shove" (see shove (v.)). Related: Scoffed; scoffing.