lewd

Meanings

1. Lascivious, sexually promiscuous, rude.
2. Lay; not clerical.
3. Uneducated.
4. Vulgar, common; typical of the lower orders.
5. Base, vile, reprehensible.

1. A sexually suggestive image, particularly one which does not involve full nudity.

1. To express lust; to behave in a lewd manner.
2. To sexualize a character, especially in a fan illustration.

1. Alternative form of lude (“take the drug quaalude”).

Etymology

From Middle English lewed, lewd, leued (“unlearned, lay, lascivious”), from Old English lǣwede (“unlearned, ignorant, lay”), of uncertain origin. Formally similar to a derivative of the past participle of Old English lǣwan (“to reveal, betray”) in the sense of "exposed as being unlearned" or "easily betrayed, clueless", from Proto-West Germanic *lāwijan, from Proto-Germanic *lēwijaną (“to betray”), from *lēwą (“an opportunity, cause”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēw- (“to leave”). If so, then cognate with Old High German gilāen, firlāen (“to betray”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galēwjan, “to give over, betray”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐍅 (lēw, “an opportunity, cause”). Or, according to the OED, probably from Vulgar Latin *laigo-, from Late Latin lāicus (“of the people”), from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós).