uncouth
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ʌnˈkuːθ/
rhymes: -uːθ
Forms: form: uncouther
form: more uncouth
form: uncouthest
form: most uncouth
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. The modern pronunciation does not show /aʊ/, the usual development of the Middle English vowel from the Great Vowel Shift. It is usually explained as a pronunciation taken from Northern English dialects, which did not undergo the diphthongization of the vowel.
Senses: examples: text: If this uncouth
forest yield anything savage, I will either be food for it or
bring it for food to thee.
ref: 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, [Act II, scene vi], lines 882-94:
text: The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
Affects me equally; nor can I like
This uncouth' dream, of evil sprung I fear […]
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 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[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 14:
antonyms: word: couth
glosses: Unfamiliar, strange, foreign.
synonyms: fremd
glosses: Clumsy, awkward.
examples: text: I don't want to associate with uncouth people.
text: Harsh words, though pertinent, uncouth appear: / None please the fancy, who offend the ear.
ref: 1699, Samuel Garth, The Dispensary, Canto IV, line 204:
text: If Yule found it delightful, why did Kipling find it uncouth?
ref: 2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At `Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 58:
text: “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.”
ref: 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:
synonyms: word: impolite
word: aweless
word: bad-mannered
word: barbaric
word: bold
word: bumptious
word: crude
word: churlish
word: discourteous
word: gauche
word: ill-bred
word: ill-mannered
word: impolite
word: incivil
word: insolent
word: lack-grace
word: mismannered
word: rantipole
word: rough
word: rude
word: uncivil
word: uncourteous
word: uncouth
word: uncultured
word: underbred
word: unmannerly
word: unpolished
word: unpolite
word: unrefined
antonyms: couth
glosses: Unrefined, crude.
Derived terms: unco
uncouthness