mud English · revision 7533

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1380|origins=gml mudde}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mʌd/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English mudde, mode,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) probably [[bor|gml|mudde|t=thick mud]] or Middle Dutch modde,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) from Proto-Germanic *mud-,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) cognate with Middle High German mot, bog, and Swedish modd.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Etymonline relates it to a PIE *(s)meu-, found in words for wet or dirty, such as Greek mydos, damp;^(Etymonline) Barnhart compares Irish mothar, bog.^(Barnhart 1988) Welsh mwd is from English, and the older English word is [[fen]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Moist, soft earth: probably about 1380.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Mud as a type of what is worthless or polluting is from 1563,^(OED 1989) and the lowest or worst of anything from the 1580s.^(Etymonline) The verb, to cover with mud, is from 1593.^(MWU 2024) Word Origins traces ''someone's name is mud'' to an 18th–19th-century slang use of mud for a stupid person,^(Cresswell 2021) and dates ''clear as mud'' to the early 19th century, ''drag through the mud'' to the mid-19th century and ''here's mud in your eye'' to the 1920s.^(Cresswell 2021) As hobo slang for coffee it is from 1925, and for opium from 1922.^(Etymonline) Tracts of mud by a tidal river, ''muds'', are from 1883.^(OED 1989) A drilling mud, pumped down an oil well, is from 1901.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – mudde.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1563 – something worthless.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1593 – the verb.^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1788 – mud pie.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1901 – drilling mud.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1925 – coffee (slang).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Wet, sticky, soft [[earth]], as after rain or on a riverbank.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Wet [[plaster]], mortar or cement.^(AHD)

+ # ''(informal)'' [[slander|alt=Slanderous]] charges: ''to sling mud''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cover or spatter with mud.^(AHD)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mudbug]]

+ * [[mudcap]]

+ * [[mudcat]]

+ * [[muddy]]

+ * [[mudfish]]

+ * [[mudflat]]

+ * [[mudflow]]

+ * [[mudguard]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[muddle]]

+ * [[mudlark]]

+ * [[moss]]

+ * [[fen]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ An unrelated MUD, an abbreviation of multi-user dungeon, is a text-based computer game for several players, from the late 20th century.^(NODE 1998)^(SOED 2002) In northern English and Scots dialect a mud was a small nail used by shoemakers.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}