impudent

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin impudēns (“shameless”), from in- (“not”) and pudēns (“ashamed, modest”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} originally the present participle of pudeō (“to make or feel ashamed”).^[2][6][3] The OED notes that French impudent is known only from the 16th century, with the adverb impudemment from 1461,^[2] although Skeat and Weekley gave a French source.^[8][9] The further origin of the Latin verb is uncertain,^[7][4] though Etymonline mentions a suggested Proto-Indo-European *(s)peud- (“to punish, repulse”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lacking in shame or modesty, about 1386 in Chaucer's Parson's Tale:^[2] "Impudent is he that for his pride hath no shame of hise synnes".^[10] Barnhart and the Middle English Dictionary date the same passage about 1390.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages an impudent person lacked shame or modesty rather than respect.^[11][12] The modern sense, presumptuous and insolently disrespectful, emerged in the mid 16th century:^[11][13] the OED's first record is Foxe's Actes and Monuments (1563).^[2] From 1600, in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, the word was also used of conduct and actions as well as people;^[2] the noun, for a person of that kind, dates from 1586.^[2] The old sense lasted until the 18th century:^[2][13] Johnson (1755) still defined the word as "shameless; wanting modesty", and in 1773 added "unchaste; immodest".^[14] Hoad's summary of the change is from the immodest to the unblushingly presumptuous.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – shameless, immodest (obsolete by 1732).^[2][10]
• 1563 – shamelessly forward, insolently disrespectful.^[2]
• 1586 – noun, a person of unblushing insolence.^[2]
• 1600 – of conduct or actions.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Boldly disrespectful; insolent or impertinent: The apprentice gave the foreman an impudent wink.^[15][16][2]
2. (obsolete, 1386–1732) Lacking in shame or modesty; immodest.^[2][13][15]

Noun

1. (rare) An impudent person.^[2][13]

Word family

• impudently
• impudentness

Related words

• impudence
• impudicity
• pudibund
• pudency
• pudendum
• repudiate
• imprudent

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
11. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster