uncouth
pronunciation
How to pronounce uncouth in British English:
UK [ʌnˈku:θ]
How to pronounce uncouth in American English:
US [ʌnˈkuθ]
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- Adjective:
- lacking refinement or cultivation or taste
Word Origin
- uncouth
- uncouth: [OE] Uncouth originally meant ‘unknown’ or ‘unfamiliar’ – a sense which survived into the 17th century (‘Now the whole superficies of the earth as well uncouth as discovered, is but a little point’, John Boys, Works 1616). ‘Crude, awkward’ is a secondary development, first recorded in the 16th century. The word was formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from the prefix un- ‘not’ and the past participle of *kunnan ‘know’ (whose closest living English relative is could).=> could
- uncouth (adj.)
- Old English uncuð "unknown, strange, unusual; uncertain, unfamiliar; unfriendly, unkind, rough," from un- (1) "not" + cuð "known, well-known," past participle of cunnan "to know" (see can (v.1)). Meaning "strange, crude, clumsy" is first recorded 1510s. The compound (and the thing it describes) widespread in IE languages, such as Latin ignorantem, Old Norse ukuðr, Gothic unkunþs, Sanskrit ajnatah, Armenian ancanaut', Greek agnotos, Old Irish ingnad "unknown."
Example
- 1. A straightforward ban would be more worthy of a democratic republic than such uncouth manipulation .
- 2. She may embarrass you with her uncouth behavior .
- 3. I don 't would like to believe love is uncouth exaction and roaring flaunt .
- 4. It 's dirty and has an uncouth culture .
- 5. Others see us as overly materialistic , somewhat uncouth and lacking in social graces .