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.

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈkuːθ/

• Audio

  (file)

  Rhymes: -uːθ

Adjective

uncouth (comparative uncouther or more uncouth, superlative uncouthest or most uncouth)

1. (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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , 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; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     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, 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.

2. Clumsy, awkward.

   Synonym: fremd

3. 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:

     “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

Translations

Anagrams

• untouch

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English uncouth, from Old English uncūþ (“unknown; unfamiliar; strange”), from Proto-West Germanic *unkunþ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʊnˈkuːθ/

Adjective

uncouth

1. strange

   Synonym: unket

   • 1867, “WEXFORD THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO”, line 9, in APPENDIX:

     estraunge, uncouth;

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) 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, published 1867, page 120