English Explanatory Dictionary

uncouth

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Unfamiliar, strange, foreign.
  2. Clumsy, awkward.
  3. Unrefined, crude.

Pronunciation

/ʌnˈkuːθ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-uncouth.wav

Word forms

uncouth uncouther more uncouth uncouthest 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.

Synonyms

alien uncanny weird aberrant abnormal anomalous as queer as Dick's hatband bizarre booky curious deviant discrepant eerie eldritch errant exceptional extraordinary fey forby freak freakish freaky fremd funny heteroclite hinky incongruous incongruitous irregular kooky monstrous nonstandard odd outlandish out of the ordinary outré peculiar quaint queer queer as a clockwork orange queer as a nine bob note queer as a three dollar bill queer as a coot queer as Dick's hatband rare rum rummy selcouth seld singular strange trippy uncommon uncouth unconventional unearthly unexpected unreasonable unusual unwonted

Antonyms

couth

Derived words

unco uncouthness
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