uncouth means unfamiliar, strange, foreign. It carries an Arena rating of 1783, earned across 62 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, uncouth ranks #325 of 42,789 for Qualifying, #1,052 of 17,135 for Most Malleable Words, #1,181 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,941 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
uncouth is pronounced /ʌnˈkuːθ/.
Why “uncouth” is a great word
Lacking refinement or grace; awkward and socially unacceptable in behavior or appearance. From Middle English *uncouth*, from Old English *uncūþ* ("unknown, unfamiliar, strange"), from Proto-Germanic *unkunþaz* ("unknown"), equivalent to the prefix *un-* ("not") + *couth* ("known, familiar"). Unlike "boorish," which implies an active, learned rudeness, or "gauche," which suggests a mere social misstep from inexperience, "uncouth" describes a more fundamental, primordial strangeness. It is the rasp of unplaned wood against a polished table, the smell of damp earth in a parlor, the jarring anecdote told with perfect, unwitting sincerity—a discomfort not of poor manners, but of something once wild, never invited in.
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.
adj
- Unfamiliar, strange, foreign.e.g.“If this uncouth
forest yield anything savage, I will either be food for it or
bring it for food to thee.” — 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, publ
- Clumsy, awkward.
- Unrefined, crude.e.g.“I don't want to associate with uncouth people.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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