uncouth
English
Etymology
From Middle English uncouth, from Old English uncūþ (“unknown; unfamiliar; strange”), from Proto-West Germanic *unkunþ, from Proto-Germanic *unkunþaz (“unknown”), equivalent to un- + couth.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʌnˈkuːθ/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -uːθ
Adjective
uncouth (comparative uncouther or more uncouth, superlative uncouthest or most uncouth)
- (archaic) Unfamiliar, strange, foreign.
- Antonym: (obsolete) couth
- c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene vi], lines 882-94:
- If this uncouth
forest yield anything savage, I will either be food for it or
bring it for food to thee.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
Affects me equally; nor can I like
This uncouth' dream, of evil sprung I fear […]
- 1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Voyage”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C. S. Van Winkle, […], OCLC 1090970992, page 14:
- There was a delicious sensation of mingled security and awe with which I looked down, from my giddy height, on the monsters of the deep at their uncouth gambols.
- Clumsy, awkward.
- Synonym: fremd
- Unrefined, crude.
- Synonyms: impolite; see also Thesaurus:impolite
- Antonym: couth
- 1699, Samuel Garth, The Dispensary, Canto IV, line 204:
- Harsh words, though pertinent, uncouth appear: / None please the fancy, who offend the ear.
- 2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At `Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 58:
- If Yule found it delightful, why did Kipling find it uncouth?
- 2021 May 10, Ian Prasad Philbrick, quoting Brian Fallon, “‘We May Not Have a Full Two Years’: Democrats’ Plans Hinge on Good Health”, in The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331:
- “I don’t think it’s uncouth to talk about it. I think it’s a reality that has to inform the urgency with which we approach those issues.”
Derived terms
- uncouthness
Related terms
English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵneh₃- (0 c, 47 e)
Translations
unfamiliar, strange, foreign
|
clumsy, awkward
|
unrefined, crude
|
Anagrams
- untouch
Yola
Etymology
From Middle English uncouth, from Old English uncūþ (“unknown; unfamiliar; strange”), from Proto-West Germanic *unkunþ.
Adjective
uncouth
- strange
- WEXFORD THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO., line 9.
- estraunge, uncouth;
- WEXFORD THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO., line 9.
References
- Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 120