gaudy

English

WOTD – 7 November 2010

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔː.di/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔ.di/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑ.di/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːdi

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain; perhaps from gaud (“ornament, trinket”) +‎ -y, perhaps ultimately from Old French gaudir (“to rejoice”).

Alternatively, from Middle English gaudi, gawdy (“yellowish”), from Old French gaude, galde (“weld (the plant)”), from Frankish *walda, from Proto-Germanic *walþō, *walþijō, akin to Old English *weald, *wielde (>Middle English welde, wolde and Anglo-Latin walda (“alum”)), Middle Low German wolde, Middle Dutch woude. More at English weld.

A common claim that the word derives from Antoni Gaudí, designer of Barcelona's Sagrada Família Basilica, is incorrect: the word was in use centuries before Gaudí was born.

Adjective

gaudy (comparative gaudier, superlative gaudiest)

1. very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner
   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, / But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton […], OCLC 38659585:

     The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings.

   • 1887, Homer Greene, Burnham Breaker:

     A large gaudy, flowing cravat, and an ill-used silk hat, set well back on the wearer's head, completed this somewhat noticeable costume.

   • 2005, Thomas Hauser & Marilyn Cole Lownes, "How Bling-bling Took Over the Ring", The Observer, 9 January 2005

     Gaudy jewellery might offend some people's sense of style. But former heavyweight champion and grilling-machine entrepreneur George Foreman is philosophical about today's craze for bling-bling.

2. (obsolete) fun; merry; festive
   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene xiii]:

     Let's have one other gaudy night.

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page)”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], OCLC 911789798:

     And for my strange petition I will make
     Amends hereafter by some gaudy day

   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 22, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], OCLC 458431182:

     And then, there he was, slim and handsome, and dressed the gaudiest and prettiest you ever saw...

Synonyms

• (excessively showy): tawdry, flashy, garish, kitschy
• Thesaurus:gaudy

Derived terms

• gaudily
• gaudiness

Translations

very showy or ornamented

• Bulgarian: ярък (bg) (jarǎk), крещящ (bg) (kreštjašt), безвкусен (bg) (bezvkusen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 俗麗, 俗丽 (súlì), 俗艷, 俗艳 (súyàn), 花哨 (zh) (huāshao), 花俏 (zh) (huāqiào)

• Czech: nevkusný
• Dutch: ordinair (nl), opzichtig (nl), opvallend (nl), schreeuwlelijk (nl)
• Finnish: pramea (fi), kruusattu
• French: voyant (fr), criard (fr), surfait (fr), kitsch (fr), vulgaire (fr)
• Galician: chamativo m, charro
• Georgian: მყვირალა (mq̇virala), ფერადოვანი (peradovani), უგემოვნო (ugemovno)
• German: knallig, grell (de), protzig (de), kitschig (de), aufsehenerregend, knallbunt, farbenprächtig, schreiend (de), pompig
• Hungarian: cifra (hu)

• Irish: gairéadach, scéiniúil, taibhseach, spiagaí, mórthaibhseach
• Italian: chiassoso (it), vistoso (it), sgargiante (it), appariscente (it), pacchiano (it) m
• Japanese: どぎつい (dogitsui), 派手な (ja) (はでな, hade-na), けばけばしい (ja) (kebakebashii), あくどい (akudoi)
• Manx: ard-ghaaoil
• Plautdietsch: bunt
• Polish: jarmarczny
• Portuguese: espalhafatoso (pt), vistoso (pt) m
• Romanian: împopoțonat (ro) m, înzorzonat (ro) m, kitsch (ro)
• Russian: цвета́стый (ru) (cvetástyj), крича́щий (ru) (kričáščij), безвку́сный (ru) (bezvkúsnyj)
• Spanish: llamativo (es), vistoso (es), sobrecargado (es), vulgar (es), feúcho, chillón, hortera (es)
• Tagalog: jologs
• Tibetan: ཧར་པོ (har po)

Noun

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. One of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited.
   • c. 1386–1390, John Gower, Reinhold Pauli, editor, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and Daldy […], published 1857, OCLC 827099568:

     A paire of bedes blacke as sable
     She toke and hynge my necke about,
     Upon the gaudees all without
     Was wryte of gold, pur reposer

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

Etymology 2

Latin gaudium (“joy”). Doublet of joy.

Noun

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. (Oxford University) A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally held during the long vacation.

Derived terms

• gaudy night