uncouth

What it means

1. archaicUnfamiliar, strange, foreign.

   If this uncouth forest yield anything savage, I will either be food for it or bring it for food to thee.

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], lines 882-94

   2 more examples

   The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep Affects me equally; nor can I like This uncouth' dream, of evil sprung I fear […]

   1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   There was a delicious sensation of mingled security and awe with which I looked down, from my giddy height, on the monsters of the deep at their uncouth gambols.

   1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Voyage”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 14

   Synonyms: alien, uncanny, weird, fremd, aberrant, abnormal, alien, anomalous · Antonyms: couth

2. Clumsy, awkward.

   Synonyms: bumbling, inept

3. Unrefined, crude.

   I don't want to associate with uncouth people.

   3 more examples

   Harsh words, though pertinent, uncouth appear: / None please the fancy, who offend the ear.

   1699, Samuel Garth, The Dispensary, Canto IV, line 204

   If Yule found it delightful, why did Kipling find it uncouth?

   2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At `Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 58

   “I don’t think it’s uncouth to talk about it. I think it’s a reality that has to inform the urgency with which we approach those issues.”

   2021 May 10, Ian Prasad Philbrick, quoting Brian Fallon, “‘We May Not Have a Full Two Years’: Democrats’ Plans Hinge on Good Health”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: bumptious, churlish, uncivil, aweless, improper, bad-mannered, barbaric, bold · Antonyms: couth

In a sentence

If this uncouth forest yield anything savage, I will either be food for it or bring it for food to thee.

c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], lines 882-94

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Germanic*unkunþaz“unknown”
2. Proto-West Germanic*unkunþ
3. Old Englishuncūþ“unknown; unfamiliar; strange”
4. Middle Englishuncouth
5. Englishuncouth

From Middle English uncouth, from Old English uncūþ (“unknown; unfamiliar; strange”), from Proto-West Germanic *unkunþ, from Proto-Germanic *unkunþaz (“unknown”), equivalent to un- + couth. The modern pronunciation does not show /aʊ/, the usual development of the Middle English vowel from the Great Vowel Shift. It is usually explained as a pronunciation taken from Northern English dialects, which did not undergo the diphthongization of the vowel.