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impudicus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word impudicus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (pudīcus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin impudicus
Latin impudicitia

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪm.pʊˈdiː.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [im.puˈdiː.kus][1]

Forms

impudīcus (feminine impudīca, neuter impudīcum, superlative impudīcissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1] It is also spelled inp-.[2][3] Plautus has the comparative, and the superlative is frequent from Cicero on.[4]

Etymology

It is formed from the negative prefix in- (“not”) and pudīcus (“modest, chaste”).[2][4] Isidore derived it from pōdex (“anus”).[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus,[6] whose Alcmena says no man has touched her body to make her unchaste.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is “unchaste, immoral”, of women and of men, often of homosexual conduct;[2] Cicero cites “adulterer, unchaste, go-between” as a standard insult.[2] It is used of acts and words, and digitus impudīcus is the middle finger raised as an obscene gesture.[2] More widely it means “shameless, outrageous”, as in Plautus' “come on, shameless villain”.[2][3] Martial uses it of a foul smell.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “shameless, impudent”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of an unchaste woman and a shameless man.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a common insult.[2][6]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial of a foul smell.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Unchaste, immoral, lewd;[2][1] digitus impudīcus, the middle finger.[2][1]
  2. Shameless, impudent.[2][3][1][7]
  3. Of a smell, foul.[2]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Impudicus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/impudicus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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