Etymology

prude

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Today it means: A person who is or tries to be excessively proper, especially one who is easily offended by matters of a sexual nature. Full definition →

French prude ← Old French prude ← Latin prōde
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prude · noun, adjective1

  1. Latin · derived fromprōde
  2. Old French · derived fromprude
  3. French · borrowed fromprude
  4. English todayprude

From French prude, from Old French prude, prode, feminine of prou, prod, prud (“good, excellent, brave”), from Latin prōde. Related to proud but unrelated to prudent.

Prude · proper noun2

English surname, probably a variant of Proud.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.