rude

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹuːd/ (UK); /ɹud/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English reud, rude, borrowed from Old French rude and directly borrowed from Latin rudis (“rough, crude, unwrought, uncultivated”),^[2][3][4][5] of uncertain origin, related to rūdus (“rubble, broken stone”).^[2][3][6] Hoad and NODE note that rudis was first a craftsman's term for unworked material.^[4][6] De Vaan, quoted by Etymonline, rejects the usual link with rūfus (“red”) through the idea of raw meat.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coarse, rough, unfinished, of a surface or a board: about 1280 in Barnhart, the late 13th century in Etymonline.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Of a writer or writing, artless or simple, it is from before 1325.^[2] Ill-mannered and uncultured, and uneducated or ignorant, are from the mid-14th century, as is violent or rough of actions.^[3][2][7] Of low birth, common or humble, is from the late 14th century.^[3] Discourteous, contrary to politeness, is perhaps late 14th-century but certainly established by the 16th, and hard to separate from unrefined.^[3] Word Origins notes that the main sense for children today, referring to sex in an embarrassing way, is recorded only from the early 1910s.^[8][9] A rude awakening is from 1895,^[3] and the Jamaican rude boy, a lawless urban youth, from the 1960s (1967).^[3][8]

Timeline

• c. 1280 – rough, of a board.^[2]
• before 1325 – artless, simple.^[2]
• mid-14th century – ill-mannered; ignorant.^[3]
• late 14th century – of low birth.^[3]
• 1895 – a rude awakening.^[3]
• early 1910s – indecent.^[8]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Impolite or discourteous; offensive in manner.
2. Vulgar or indecent: a rude joke.
3. Sudden and unpleasant: a rude shock.
4. Roughly made; primitive or crude.
5. (archaic) Uneducated or unsophisticated.
6. (chiefly British) Vigorous: in rude health.

Word family

• rudely
• rudeness
• overrude
• unrude

Related words

• rudiment
• rudimentary
• erudition
• erudite
• crude

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b 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 Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins