loud

See also: Loud

English

Alternative forms

• lowd (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: loud, IPA^(key): /laʊd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊd

Etymology 1

From Middle English loude, loud, lud, from Old English hlūd (“loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlūd, from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz, *hlūþaz (“heard”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewtos (“heard, famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). More at listen.

Cognates

Akin to Scots loud, lowd (“loud”), Swedish ljud, West Frisian lûd (“loud”), Dutch luid (“loud”), Low German lud (“loud”), German laut (“loud”), Irish clú (“repute”), Welsh clywed (“heard”), clod (“praise”), Latin laudare (“praise”), Tocharian A/B klots/klautso 'ear', klyostär 'heard', Ancient Greek κλυτός (klutós, “famous”), Albanian quaj (“to name, call”), shquar (“famous, notorious”), Old Armenian լու (lu, “the act of hearing”), Old Church Slavonic слава (slava, “glory”), слово (slovo, “word”), Sanskrit श्रव (śráva, “glory”).

Adjective

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. (of a sound) Of great intensity.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:

     Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

   Turn that music down; it's too loud.

2. (of a person, thing, event, etc.) Noisy.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Proverbs vii:11:

     She is loud and stubborn.

   a loud party that went on all night

3. (of a person, event, etc.) Not subtle or reserved, brash.
4. (of clothing, decorations, etc.) Having unpleasantly and tastelessly contrasting colours or patterns; gaudy.

   a loud style of dress;  loud colors

   • 2006, Janis Mink, Joan Miró, →ISBN, page 22:

     In comparison with the loud Portrait of E.C. Ricart (ill. p. 13) two years earlier, Miró has captured a soft, hushed atmosphere here.

5. (of marijuana, slang) High-quality; premium; (by extension) having a strong or pungent odour indicating good quality

Synonyms

• (of clothing, etc): garish, gaudy

Antonyms

• (sound): quiet, soft
• (person): quiet

Derived terms

Terms derived from loud (adjective)

• aloud
• loudhailer

• loudly
• loudmouth

• loudness
• loudsome
• loudspeaker

Translations

of a sound

• Afrikaans: hard
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: (indefinite) عَالٍ‎ (ʿālin), (definite) اَلْعَالِي‎ (al-ʿālī)
• Armenian: բարձր (hy) (barjr)
• Azerbaijani: uca (az), bərk (az)
• Belarusian: гу́чны (húčny)
• Bulgarian: гръ́мък (bg) (grǎ́mǎk)
• Burmese: ကျယ် (my) (kyai)
• Catalan: fort (ca), alt (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏍᏓᏯ (asdaya)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大聲的 (zh), 大声的 (zh) (dàshēng de)

• Czech: hlasitý (cs)
• Danish: høj (da)
• Dutch: luid (nl), luide (nl), hard (nl), harde (nl)
• Esperanto: laŭta
• Estonian: vali
• Faroese: høgur, harður
• Finnish: äänekäs (fi), kova (fi), luja (fi), voimakas (fi), voimakkuinen
• French: fort (fr)
• Galician: alto (gl)
• Georgian: ხმამაღალი (xmamaɣali), ხმაძლიერი (xmaʒlieri), მჟღერი (mžɣeri)
• German: laut (de)
• Greek: ηχηρός (el) (ichirós), δυνατός (el) (dynatós)

  Ancient: μέγας (mégas)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: בְּקוֹל רָם‎
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: hangos (hu)
• Ido: lauta (io)
• Irish: ard (ga), glórach
• Italian: forte (it) m or f
• Japanese: 音が大きい (おとがおおきい, oto ga ōkii), (of a voice) 大声 (ja) (おおごえ, ōgoe), 騒々しい (そうぞうしい, sōzōshii), 喧しい (ja) (やかましい, yakamashii), 煩い (ja) (うるさい, urusai)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: қатты (kk) (qattı), сартыл (sartıl)
• Khmer: ខ្លាំង (km) (khlang)
• Korean: 시끄럽다 (ko) (sikkeureopda)

• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: please add this translation if you can

• Laboya: kadola
• Lao: ດັງ (dang)
• Latin: magnus (la)
• Latvian: skaļš, skanīgs
• Lithuanian: garsus
• Luxembourgish: haart
• Macedonian: гласен (glasen)
• Malay: kuat, lantang (voice)
• Maltese: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: tīhoihoi, tīwerawera, rahi, rarahi, tiori
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: чанга (mn) (changa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høy (no), høylytt (no)

• Persian: بلند‎ (fa) (boland)
• Plautdietsch: lud
• Polish: głośny (pl)
• Portuguese: alto (pt)
• Romanian: tare (ro)
• Russian: гро́мкий (ru) (grómkij)
• Samoan: please add this translation if you can
• Scots: lood
• Scottish Gaelic: faramach, fuaimneach
• Serbo-Croatian: glȁsan (sh), bȕčan (sh), гласан, бучан
• Slovak: hlasný
• Slovene: glasen (sl)
• Spanish: fuerte (es), sonoro (es), duro (es) (Colombia)
• Swahili: -kubwa (sw)
• Swedish: hög (sv)
• Tetum: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ดัง (th) (dang)
• Tibetan: སྐད་ཆེན་པོ (skad chen po)
• Tongan: leʻo lahi
• Turkish: yüksek (tr)
• Ukrainian: голосни́й (holosnýj), гучни́й (hučnýj)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: qichqiroq (uz)
• Vietnamese: to (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: uchel (cy)

noisy

• Afrikaans: hard
• Arabic: (indefinite) عَالٍ‎ (ʿālin), (definite) اَلْعَالِي‎ (al-ʿālī), صَخِب‎ (ṣaḵib)
• Belarusian: шу́мны (šúmny), шумлі́вы (šumlívy), гу́чны (húčny)
• Bulgarian: шумен (bg) (šumen)
• Catalan: estrident, sorollós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大聲的 (zh), 大声的 (zh) (dàshēng de)

• Czech: hlasitý (cs), hlučný (cs)
• Dutch: luidruchtig (nl), luidruchtige (nl)
• Esperanto: brua
• Finnish: äänekäs (fi), kovaääninen (fi)
• French: bruyant (fr)
• Galician: ruidoso
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: laut (de)
• Greek: θορυβώδης (el) (thoryvódis), βροντερός (el) (vronterós), βροντώδης (el) (vrontódis)
• Hungarian: hangos (hu)
• Icelandic: hávær (is)
• Irish: callánach
• Italian: rumoroso (it)

• Japanese: 煩い (ja) (うるさい, urusai), 姦しい (ja) (かしましい, kashimashii), 囂しい (ja) (かまびすしい, kamabisushii), 騒がしい (ja) (さわがしい, sawagashii), 騒々しい (そうぞうしい, sōzōshii), 騒然 (そうぜん, sōzen), 喧しい (ja) (やかましい, yakamashii)
• Korean: 시끄럽다 (ko) (sikkeureopda)
• Limburgish: helle (li)
• Maori: hoihoi, turituri, māniania, kurupākara, haunene, makekeno, tīhoihoi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høylytt (no)

• Polish: hałaśliwy (pl) m, głośny (pl) m, donośny (pl) m
• Portuguese: barulhento (pt)
• Romanian: gălăgios (ro), zgomotos (ro)
• Russian: гро́мкий (ru) (grómkij), шу́мный (ru) (šúmnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: faramach, fuaimneach
• Serbo-Croatian: glȁsan (sh), bȕčan (sh)
• Slovene: hrupen
• Spanish: ruidoso (es), estrepitoso (es), escandaloso, bullicioso (es)
• Swedish: ljudlig (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: шу́мний (šúmnyj), гучни́й (hučnýj)
• Vietnamese: ầm ĩ (vi)

of a colour, clothing, etc.

• Bulgarian: крещящ (bg) (kreštjašt)
• Catalan: cridaner (ca), llampant (ca)
• Czech: křiklavý
• Dutch: vloekend (nl), schreeuwerig (nl), fel (nl)
• Finnish: räikeä (fi)
• French: voyant (fr)
• Georgian: მყვირალა (mq̇virala)
• German: grell (de)
• Greek: φανταχτερός (el) (fantachterós), χτυπητός (el) (chtypitós), κραυγαλέος (el) (kravgaléos)
• Hungarian: harsány (hu)

• Japanese: 派手な (ja) (はでな, hade na), けばけばしい (ja) (kebakebashii), どぎつい (dogitsui), 毒々しい (どくどくしい, dokudokushii)
• Lithuanian: rėksmingas
• Maori: tiori
• Polish: krzykliwy (pl)
• Portuguese: berrante (pt)
• Russian: крича́щий (ru) (kričáščij)
• Spanish: chillón, vistoso (es), llamativo (es), colorinche (Argentina, Peru)
• Tibetan: ཧར་པོ (har po)

Noun

loud (countable and uncountable, plural louds)

1. (colloquial) A loud sound or part of a sound.
   • 2012, Sam McGuire, Paul Lee, The Video Editor's Guide to Soundtrack Pro (page 103)

     The expander doesn't really make the louds louder and the softs softer in one step […]

2. (slang, uncountable) High-quality marijuana.

See also

• dank

Etymology 2

From Middle English loude, from Old English hlūde (“loudly”), from Proto-Germanic *hlūda, *hlūdô (“loudly”), related to Etymology 1.

Adverb

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. Loudly.
   • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iv]:

     Who knocks so loud at door?

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 14, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar […], OCLC 928184292, book 7, pages 71-72:

     Unluckily that worthy Officer having, in a literal Sense, taken his Fill of Liquor, had been some Time retired to his Bolster, where he was snoaring so loud, that it was not easy to convey a Noise in at his Ears capable of drowning that which issued from his Nostrils.

Anagrams

• Ludo, ludo, ludo-, ould

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Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English hlūd.

Adjective

loud

1. Alternative form of loude (“loud”)

Etymology 2

From Old English hlūde.

Adverb

loud

1. Alternative form of loude (“loudly”)