uncouth

English

Etymology

From Middle English uncouth, from Old English uncūþ (“unknown; unfamiliar; strange”), from Proto-Germanic *unkunþaz (“unknown”), equivalent to un- +‎ couth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈkuːθ/

• Audio

  (file)

  Rhymes: -uːθ

Adjective

uncouth (comparative uncouther or more uncouth, superlative uncouthest or most uncouth)

1. (archaic) Unfamiliar, strange, foreign.
   • 1819: Washington Irving, The Sketch Book (The Voyage)

     There was a delicious sensation of mingled security and awe with which I looked down, from my giddy height, on the monsters of the deep at their uncouth gambols.

2. Clumsy, awkward.
3. Unrefined, crude.
   • 1699, Samuel Garth, 'The Dispensary', Canto IV, line 204:

     Harsh words, though pertinent, uncouth appear:
     None please the fancy, who offend the ear.

   • 2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At `Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 58:

     If Yule found it delightful, why did Kipling find it uncouth?

Synonyms

• fremd
• impolite    [WS]

Derived terms

• uncouthness

Related terms

▼ English terms derived from the PIE root *ǵneh₃-‎ (0 c, 37 e)

  agnosia

  agnostic

  can

  canny

  cognition

  cognitive

  cognizance

  cognizant

  cognize

  con

  could

  couth

  cunning

  diagnosis

  gnome

  gnomon

  gnosis

  Gnostic

  ignorable

  ignoramus

  ignorance

  ignorant

  ignore

  incognito

  ken

  kithe

  know

  prognosis

  recognition

  recognizance

  recognizant

  recognize

  selcouth

  uncanny

  uncouth

  uncouthness

  Zend

Translations

unfamiliar, strange, foreign

• Finnish: outo (fi)
• Galician: forasteiro m, foraño m, estrano m, estraio m, estanio m, alleo (gl) m
• German: fremd (de), fremdartig (de), sonderbar (de)
• Italian: strano (it)
• Norwegian: underlig (no)

• Occitan: estranh (oc)
• Portuguese: estranho (pt), esquisito (pt)
• Russian: необы́чный (ru) (neobýčnyj)
• Swedish: underlig (sv)

clumsy, awkward

• Finnish: kömpelö (fi)
• Galician: tarosco m, farouteiro m, tougallo m, brután m, xounón m, teirugo m, bestello m, bascallo m, buzaco m, baldragas m, baldrocas m, baldroqueiro m, alarbe (gl) m, alarbio m
• German: tölpelhaft (de), schwerfällig (de), ungeschickt (de)
• Italian: goffo (it)
• Norwegian: keitete, klossete

• Portuguese: desajeitado (pt)
• Russian: неуклю́жий (ru) (neukljúžij), нело́вкий (ru) (nelóvkij), неповоро́тливый (ru) (nepovorótlivyj)
• Spanish: bruto (es), torpe (es)

unrefined, crude

• Arabic: فَظّ‎ (faẓẓ)
• Armenian: բռի (hy) (bṙi)
• Finnish: karkea (fi), tökerö
• French: rustre (fr) m or f
• German: grobschlächtig (de), tumb (de)
• Greek: άξεστος (el) m (áxestos)

  Ancient: βάναυσος (bánausos)

• Hungarian: faragatlan (hu), csiszolatlan (hu)
• Irish: aibéiseach, amhlánta, amhchaoin

• Italian: rozzo (it), grossolano (it), grezzo (it) m, squasinodeo m
• Latin: horridus
• Maori: mohoao, mohowao, tūhourangi, pakirara
• Norwegian: ukultivert
• Occitan: ruste, grossièr, brut
• Portuguese: bruto (pt)
• Russian: гру́бый (ru) (grúbyj), неотёсанный (ru) (neotjósannyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: gràisgeil
• Spanish: grosero (es), basto (es)
• Swedish: ohyfsad (sv), ofin (sv), ohövlig (sv)

Anagrams

• untouch