uncouth

粗俗的

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

语言学习

2025-04-17

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 17, 2025 is: uncouth un-KOOTH adjective Uncouth describes things, such as language or behavior, that are impolite or socially unacceptable. A person may also be described as uncouth if they are behaving in a rude way. // Stacy realized it would be uncouth to show up to the party without a gift, so she picked up a bottle of wine on the way. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uncouth) Examples: “Perhaps people deride those who buy books solely for how they look because it reminds them that despite their primary love of literature, they still appreciate a beautiful cover. It’s not of primary importance but liking how something looks in your home matters to some extent, even if it feels uncouth to acknowledge.” — Chiara Dello Joio, LitHub.com, 24 Jan. 2023 Did you know? [Old English](https://bit.ly/3F2vu5D) speakers used the word cūth to describe things that were familiar to them, and uncūth for the strange and mysterious. These words passed through Middle English into modern English with different spellings but the same meanings. While couth eventually dropped out of use, uncouth soldiered on. In Captain Singleton by English novelist [Daniel Defoe](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Daniel-Defoe), for example, the author refers to “a strange noise more uncouth than any they had ever heard,” while Shakespeare wrote of an “uncouth forest” in As You Like It. This “unfamiliar” sense of uncouth, however, joined couth in becoming, well, unfamiliar to most English users, giving way to the now-common meanings, “rude” and “lacking polish or grace.” The adjective [couth](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/couth) in use today, meaning “sophisticated” or “polished,” arose at the turn of the 20th century, not from the earlier couth, but as a [back-formation](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/back-formation) of uncouth, joining the ranks of other “[uncommon opposites](https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/kempt-couth-ruly-gruntled)” such as [kempt](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kempt) and [gruntled](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gruntled).
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单集文稿 ...

  • It's the Word of the Day for April 17th.

  • Today's word is Ankuth, spelled U-N-C-O-U.

  • It describes things such as language or behavior that are impolite or socially unacceptable.

  • A person may also be described as uncouth if they are behaving in a rude way.

  • Here's the word used in a sentence from lithub.com.

  • Perhaps people deride those who buy books solely for how they look

  • because it reminds them that despite their primary love of literature,

  • they still appreciate a beautiful cover.

  • It's not of primary importance, but liking how something looks in your home matters to some extent,

  • even if it feels uncouth to acknowledge.

  • Old English speakers used the word cooth to describe things that were familiar to them.

  • and uncouth for the strange and mysterious.

  • These words passed through Middle English into Modern English with different spellings but the same meanings.

  • While cooth eventually dropped out of use, uncouth soldiered on.

  • In Captain Singleton by novelist Daniel Defoe, for example,

  • the author refers to a strange noise more uncouth than any they had ever heard,

  • while Shakespeare wrote of an uncouth forest in As You Like It.

  • This unfamiliar sense of uncouth, however,

  • joined cooth in becoming, well, unfamiliar to most English users,

  • giving way to the now-common meanings, rude or lacking, polish or grace.