Refine this word faster
Couth
Definitions
- 1 Familiar, known; well-known, renowned. obsolete
- 2 Marked by or possessing a high degree of sophistication; cultured, refined.
"So Dennis May thrilled me in a recent issue when he described Raymond Mays' 1939 E.R.A. racer as a "couth" little Merc-like model."
- 3 Variant of couthie.; Agreeable, friendly, pleasant. Scotland
- 4 Variant of couthie.; Comfortable; cosy, snug. Scotland
"Squad leaders were responsible for doing periodic checks to make sure soldiers were living a couth lifestyle, as Joes would compete regularly to see whose room was nicer."
- 1 (used facetiously) refined and well-mannered wordnet
- 1 Social grace, refinement, sophistication; etiquette, manners. uncountable, usually
"That man has no couth."
- 2 (used facetiously) refinement wordnet
- 3 A person with social graces; a refined or sophisticated person. rare, uncountable, usually
"We transformed the uncouths into couths, the unkempts into kempts, the inerts into erts! We did it all by speaking to teen-agers on their own terms and in their own language."
Etymology
From Middle English couth (“familiar, known; evident, true; famous, respected, well-known; genteel, having good manners”), from Old English cūþ (“familiar, intimate, known, usual; certain, plain, manifest; famous, noted, well-known; excellent; friendly; related”), past participle of cunnan (“to be familiar with, know; can, to be able, know how”), from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną (“to be familiar with, know, recognize; to be able, know how”) (compare *kunþaz (“known”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). The word is cognate with Dutch kond (“known”), Saterland Frisian cut (“known”), Gothic 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (kunþs, “known”), Icelandic kuður, kunnur (“known”), Latin gnosco (“to know”), Old High German kund, chund, chunt, Middle High German kunt (modern German kund (“known”)), Old Saxon kūth, cûth, cuð (“known; famous, renowned”), Scots couth (“familiar, known”); and is a doublet of could.
Back-formation from uncouth.
Back-formation from uncouth.
See also for "couth"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: couth