gauche English · revision 1346

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɡəʊʃ/ ''(UK)''; /ɡoʊʃ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|gauche|t=left; awkward]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from Middle French ''gauchir'' “to turn aside, swerve”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) from Old French ''gauchier'' “to trample, walk clumsily”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(AHD) which is of Germanic origin.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) Barnhart derives it from Frankish ''*walkan'', related to [[walk]],^(Barnhart 1995) while Etymonline gives Proto-Germanic ''*wankjan'' “to totter”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lacking tact or ease of manner; awkward (1751, in Lord Chesterfield).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In French the word meant “awkward, awry” before it replaced ''senestre'' as the word for “left”.^(Etymonline) In English it has always described social awkwardness.^(OED 1989)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) Technical uses followed in mathematics, “skew, not plane” (1879),^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) and in chemistry for a particular staggered molecular shape (1940).^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 15th century – French ''gauche'' replaces ''senestre'' for “left”.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1751 – awkward, tactless.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1879 – mathematics, skew.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1940 – chemistry, a staggered conformation.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Lacking social grace or experience; [[tactless]] or awkward.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Crudely made or done.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' Not lying in one plane; [[skew]].^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[gauchely]]

+ * [[gaucheness]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gaucherie]]

+ * [[sinister]]

+ * [[awkward]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Random House gives ''inept'', ''clumsy'', ''maladroit'', ''coarse'', ''gross'' and ''uncouth'' as synonyms.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}