nude

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /njuːd/, US /nuːd/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nūdus (“naked, bare”),^[2][3][4] from the same Indo-European root as naked.^[3][4][5] The noun was a loan translation of French nu (obsolete nud).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, unsupported or not formally attested, as a nude contract: 1531.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Mere, plain, simple is from 1551.^[2][6] The sense unclothed, of the human body, appears in Cotgrave (1611) and Blount (1656) but was not in common use until the 19th century;^[2][4][3] Etymonline calls it an artistic euphemism for naked.^[3] The noun, a naked figure in painting or sculpture, is from 1708, after French,^[2][3] and in the nude is by 1856.^[3] Nudity is from the 17th century,^[4] and nudism from 1929, from French.^[2]

Timeline

• 1531 – not formally attested (law).^[2][6]
• 1551 – mere, plain.^[2]
• 1611 – unclothed (rare).^[2]
• 1708 – a nude figure in art.^[2][3]
• 1856 – in the nude.^[3]
• 1929 – nudism.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Without clothing; naked.
2. Having no covering; bare.
3. (law) Lacking an essential legal requirement, such as evidence or consideration.

Noun

1. An unclothed human figure, especially in painting, sculpture or photography.
2. in the nude: naked.

Word family

• nudely
• nudeness
• nudity
• seminude
• subnude
• nudie

Related words

• denude
• nudism
• naked
• nudist

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press