Rude

Pronunciation

• enPR: roÍžod, IPA: /ruːd/
• Rhymes: -uːd

Origin

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin rudis ("rough, raw, rude, wild, untilled").

Full definition of rude

Adjective

1. bad-manneredWhich do you find the most rude? Staring, pointing, farting loudly, whistling, or asking how someone died?
2. Somewhat obscene, pornographic, offensive.
3. tough, robust.
4. undeveloped, unskilled, basic.
• 2 Corinthians 11:6 (KVJ)But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge
• unknown date, Rudyard Kipling, The Conundrum of the WorkshopsWhen the flush of a new-born sun fell first on Eden's green and gold,Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mould;And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, "It's pretty, but is it Art?"
• 1767, Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil SocietyIt might be apprehended, that among rude nations, where the means of subsistence are procured with so much difficulty, the mind could never raise itself above the consideration of this subject
5. hearty, vigorous; found particularly in the phrase rude health.

Synonyms

Derived terms

• rudeness

Anagrams

• dure, rued