couth

/ˈkuːθ/

Etymology

From Middle English couth (“familiar, known; evident, true; famous, respected, well-known; genteel, having good manners”), from Old English cūþ (“familiar, intimate, known, usual; certain, plain, manifest; famous, noted, well-known; excellent; friendly; related”), past participle of cunnan (“to be familiar with, know; can, to be able, know how”), from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną (“to be familiar with, know, recognize; to be able, know how”) (compare *kunþaz (“known”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). The word is cognate with Dutch kond (“known”), Saterland Frisian cut (“known”), Gothic 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (kunþs, “known”), Icelandic kuður, kunnur (“known”), Latin gnosco (“to know”), Old High German kund, chund, chunt, Middle High German kunt (modern German kund (“known”)), Old

adj

Familiar, known; well-known, renowned.
Variant of couthie.; Agreeable, friendly, pleasant.
Variant of couthie.; Comfortable; cosy, snug.“Squad leaders were responsible for doing periodic checks to make sure soldiers were living a couth lifestyle, as Joes would compete regularly to see whose room was nicer.”
Marked by or possessing a high degree of sophistication; cultured, refined.“So Dennis May thrilled me in a recent issue when he described Raymond Mays' 1939 E.R.A. racer as a "couth" little Merc-like model.”

noun

Social grace, refinement, sophistication; etiquette, manners.“That man has no couth.”
A person with social graces; a refined or sophisticated person.“We transformed the uncouths into couths, the unkempts into kempts, the inerts into erts! We did it all by speaking to teen-agers on their own terms and in their own language.”