Selcouth

//sɛlˈkuːθ// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Strange, unusual, rare; unfamiliar; marvellous, wondrous. archaic

    "'A selcouth novelty,' muttered the knight, 'to advance to storm such a castle without pennon or banner displayed.'"

Example

More examples

"'A selcouth novelty,' muttered the knight, 'to advance to storm such a castle without pennon or banner displayed.'"

Etymology

From Middle English selcouth, from Old English selcūþ, seldcūþ (“unusual, unwonted, little known, unfamiliar, novel, rare”), from seld- (“rarely”) + cūþ (“known”); equivalent to seld + couth.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.