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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [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], 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:

     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[ornelius] 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^[1], →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

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵneh₃- (0 c, 46 e)

Translations

unfamiliar, strange, foreign

• Bulgarian: странен (bg) (stranen)
• Finnish: outo (fi), vieras (fi)
• French: étranger (fr) m or f
• Galician: forasteiro (gl) m, foraño m, estrano m, estraio m, estanio m, alleo (gl) m
• German: fremd (de), fremdartig (de), sonderbar (de)
• Italian: strano (it)
• Macedonian: нео́бичен (neóbičen)
• Norwegian: underlig (no)
• Occitan: estranh (oc)
• Portuguese: estranho (pt), esquisito (pt)
• Russian: необы́чный (ru) (neobýčnyj)
• Swedish: underlig (sv)

clumsy, awkward

• Bulgarian: непохватен (bg) (nepohvaten), недодялан (bg) (nedodjalan)
• Finnish: kömpelö (fi)
• Galician: tarosco m, farouteiro m, tougallo m, brután m, xounón m, teirugo m, bestello m, bascallo m, buzaco m, baldragas m, baldrocas m, baldroqueiro m, alarbe (gl) m, alarbio m
• German: tölpelhaft (de), schwerfällig (de), ungeschickt (de)
• Irish: tútach
• Italian: goffo (it)
• Macedonian: не́смасен (nésmasen)
• Norwegian: keitete, klossete
• Portuguese: desajeitado (pt)
• Russian: неуклю́жий (ru) (neukljúžij), нело́вкий (ru) (nelóvkij), неповоро́тливый (ru) (nepovorótlivyj)
• Spanish: bruto (es), torpe (es)

unrefined, crude

• Arabic: فَظّ (faẓẓ)
• Armenian: բռի (hy) (bṙi)
• Bulgarian: груб (bg) (grub), нешлифован (bg) (nešlifovan)
• Finnish: karkea (fi), tökerö, hiomaton (fi), raaka (fi), hienostumaton (fi), epähieno (fi), tahditon (fi)
• French: rustre (fr) m or f
• German: grobschlächtig (de), tumb (de)
• Greek: άξεστος (el) m (áxestos)

  Ancient: βάναυσος (bánausos)

• Hungarian: faragatlan (hu), csiszolatlan (hu)
• Irish: aibéiseach, amhlánta, amhchaoin, tútach
• Italian: rozzo (it), grossolano (it), grezzo (it) m, squasinodeo m
• Latin: horridus
• Macedonian: груб (grub), су́ров (súrov)
• Maori: mohoao, mohowao, tūhourangi, pakirara
• Norwegian: ukultivert
• Occitan: ruste (oc), grossièr (oc), brut (oc)
• Ottoman Turkish: یوغون (yoğun), بیاغی (bayağı)
• Plautdietsch: onbeschläpen, bollboarich
• Portuguese: bruto (pt)
• Russian: гру́бый (ru) (grúbyj), неотёсанный (neotjósannyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: gràisgeil
• Spanish: grosero (es), basto (es), chocarrero
• Swedish: ohyfsad (sv), ofin (sv), ohövlig (sv)

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