Etymology

gaudy

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Today it means: Very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner. Full definition →

Middle English gaudi ← Old French gaudie ← Medieval Latin gaudia
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gaudy · adjective, noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*walþō
  2. Frankish · derived from*walda
  3. Old French · derived fromgaude
  4. Middle English · inherited fromgaudi
  5. Medieval Latin · derived fromgaudia
  6. Old French · derived fromgaudie
  7. Middle English · inherited fromgaudi
  8. English todaygaudy

From Middle English gaudi, from Old French gaudie, from Medieval Latin gaudia. equivalent to gaud (“ornament, trinket”) + -y. Alternatively, from Middle English gaudi, gawdy (“yellowish”), from Old French gaude, galde (“weld (the plant)”), from Frankish *walda, from Proto-Germanic *walþō, *walþijō, akin to Old English *weald, *wielde (>Middle English welde, wolde and Anglo-Latin walda (“alum”)), Middle Low German wolde, Middle Dutch woude. More at English weld. A common claim that the word derives from Antoni Gaudí, designer of Barcelona's Sagrada Família Basilica, is incorrect: the word was in use centuries before Gaudí was born.

gaudy · noun2

  1. Latin · borrowed fromgaudium“joy”
  2. English todaygaudy

Borrowed from Latin gaudium (“joy”). Doublet of joy and jo.

Words from the same roots

Latingaudium all →

joyjojewel

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.