loud

See also: Loud

English

Alternative forms

• lowd (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laʊd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊd

Adjective

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. (of a sound) Of great intensity.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:

     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.
   • Bible, 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

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
• 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)
• Azeri: uca (az)
• Belarusian: гу́чны (húčny)
• Bulgarian: гръ́мък (bg) (grǎ́mǎk)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• 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), kovalla
• French: fort (fr) m, forte (fr) f
• Galician: alto (gl) m
• Georgian: ხმამაღალი (xmamaɣali), ხმაძლიერი (xmaʒlieri), მჟღერი (mžɣeri)
• German: laut (de)
• Greek: ηχηρός (el) m (ichirós), δυνατός (el) m (dynatós)
• 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, 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 (やかましい, yakamashii), 煩い (うるさい, urusai)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: қатты (kk) (qattı), сартыл (sartıl)
• Khmer: ខ្លាំង (km) (klang)

• Korean: 시끄럽다 (ko) (sikkeureopda)
• Kurdish: please add this translation if you can
• 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) (čanga)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høy (no), høylytt

• Polish: głośny (pl)
• Portuguese: alto (pt) m, alta (pt) f
• Romanian: tare (ro)
• Russian: гро́мкий (ru) (grómkij)
• Scottish Gaelic: faramach, fuaimneach
• Serbo-Croatian: glȁsan (sh), bȕčan (sh), гласан, бучан
• Slovak: hlasný
• Slovene: glasen (sl)
• Spanish: fuerte (es) m, f
• Swahili: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: hög (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: yüksek (tr)
• Ukrainian: голо́сний (holósnyj), гу́чний (húčnyj)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: qichqiroq (uz)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: ban (cy)
• c. {{{1}}},: fort (ca), alt (ca)

noisy

• Afrikaans: hard
• Arabic: (indefinite) عَالٍ‏‎ (ʿālin), (definite) اَلْعَالِي‏‎ (al-ʿālī)
• Chinese: 大声 (dàshēng)
• Czech: hlasitý (cs), hlučný (cs)
• Dutch: luidruchtig (nl), luidruchtige (nl)
• Esperanto: brua
• Finnish: äänekäs (fi), kovaääninen (fi)
• French: bruyant (fr) m, bruyante (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: laut (de)
• Greek: θορυβώδης (el) m (thoryvódis), βροντερός (el) m (vronterós), βροντώδης (el) m (vrontódis)
• Hungarian: hangos (hu)
• Icelandic: hávær (is)
• Italian: rumoroso (it) m
• Japanese: 煩い (うるさい, urusai), 姦しい (ja) (かしましい, kashimashii), 囂しい (かまびすしい, kamabisushii), 騒がしい (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 (やかましい, yakamashii)

• Korean: 시끄러운 (sikkeureoun)
• Limburgish: helle (li)
• Maori: hoihoi, turituri, māniania, kurupākara, haunene, makekeno, tīhoihoi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høylytt

• 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)
• Swedish: ljudlig (sv)
• c. {{{1}}},: estrident (ca), sorollós (ca) m

of a colour, clothing, etc.

• Czech: křiklavý
• Dutch: vloekend (nl), schreeuwerig (nl), fel (nl)
• Finnish: räikeä (fi)
• French: voyant (fr) m, voyante (fr) f
• Georgian: მყვირალა (mq̇virala)
• German: grell (de)
• Greek: φανταχτερός (el) m (fantachterós), χτυπητός (el) m (chtypitós), κραυγαλέος (el) m (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 m, rėksminga f
• Maori: tiori
• Polish: krzykliwy (pl) m, krzykliwa f, krzykliwe
• Portuguese: berrante (pt)
• Russian: крича́щий (ru) (kričáščij)
• Spanish: chillón m
• c. {{{1}}},: cridaner (ca) m, llampant (ca) m

Adverb

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. Loudly.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Scene 4,^[1]

     Who knocks so loud at door?

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 2, Book 7, Chapter 14, pp. 71-72,^[2]

     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.

Noun

loud (uncountable)

1. (slang) High-quality marijuana

See also

• dank

Anagrams

• Ludo, ludo, ould