Standard Lemma guide

uncouth

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ʌnˈkuːθ/
  • Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -uːθ
  • CMU ARPABET: AH1 N K UW1 TH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Unfamiliar, strange, foreign.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: alien, uncanny, weird, aberrant, abnormal, anomalous, as queer as Dick's hatband, bizarre, booky, curious, deviant, discrepant, eerie, eldritch, errant, exceptional, extraordinary, fey, forby, freak, freakish, freaky, fremd, funny, heteroclite, hinky, incongruous, incongruitous, irregular, kooky, monstrous, nonstandard, odd, outlandish, out of the ordinary, outré, peculiar, quaint, queer, queer as a clockwork orange, queer as a nine bob note, queer as a three dollar bill, queer as a coot, queer as Dick's hatband, rare, rum, rummy, selcouth, seld, singular, strange, trippy, uncommon, uncouth, unconventional, unearthly, unexpected, unreasonable, unusual, unwonted, weirdsome, yampy

Antonyms: couth

2

adj

Meaning 2

Clumsy, awkward.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bumbling, fremd, inept

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Unrefined, crude.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • I don't want to associate with uncouth people.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bumptious, churlish, uncivil, aweless, improper, bad-mannered, barbaric, bold, crude, impudent, discourteous, gauche, ill-bred, ill-mannered, impolite, incivil, insolent, lack-grace, mismannered, rantipole, rough, rude, uncivilized, uncourteous, uncouth, uncultured, underbred, unmannerly, unpolished, unpolite, unrefined

Antonyms: couth

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

lacking refinement or cultivation or taste

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he had coarse manners but a first-rate mind
  • behavior that branded him as common
  • an untutored and uncouth human being
  • an uncouth soldier--a real tough guy
  • appealing to the vulgar taste for violence
  • the vulgar display of the newly rich

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: coarse, common, rough-cut, vulgar

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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.

Across languages

Translations

118 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: странен (stranen) — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Chinese Mandarin: 陌生的 (mòshēngde) — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Danish: underlig — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Finnish: outo — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Finnish: vieras — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • French: étranger — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Galician: forasteiro — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Galician: foraño — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Galician: estrano — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Galician: estraio — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Galician: estanio — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Galician: alleo — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • German: fremd — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • German: fremdartig — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • German: sonderbar — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Italian: strano — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Macedonian: нео́бичен (neóbičen) — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Norwegian: underlig — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Occitan: estranh — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Portuguese: estranho — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Portuguese: esquisito — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Russian: необы́чный (neobýčnyj) — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Spanish: extraño — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Swedish: underlig — unfamiliar, strange, foreign
  • Bulgarian: непохватен (nepohvaten) — clumsy, awkward
  • Bulgarian: недодялан (nedodjalan) — clumsy, awkward
  • Finnish: kömpelö — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: tarosco — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: farouteiro — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: tougallo — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: brután — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: xounón — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: teirugo — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: bestello — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: bascallo — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: buzaco — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: baldragas — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: baldrocas — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: baldroqueiro — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: alarbe — clumsy, awkward
  • Galician: alarbio — clumsy, awkward
  • German: tölpelhaft — clumsy, awkward
  • German: schwerfällig — clumsy, awkward
  • German: ungeschickt — clumsy, awkward
  • Irish: tútach — clumsy, awkward
  • Italian: goffo — clumsy, awkward
  • Macedonian: не́смасен (nésmasen) — clumsy, awkward
  • Norwegian: keitete — clumsy, awkward
  • Norwegian: klossete — clumsy, awkward
  • Portuguese: desajeitado — clumsy, awkward
  • Russian: неуклю́жий (neukljúžij) — clumsy, awkward
  • Russian: нело́вкий (nelóvkij) — clumsy, awkward
  • Russian: неповоро́тливый (nepovorótlivyj) — clumsy, awkward
  • Spanish: bruto — clumsy, awkward
  • Spanish: torpe — clumsy, awkward
  • Arabic: فَظّ (faẓẓ) — unrefined, crude
  • Armenian: բռի (bṙi) — unrefined, crude
  • Bulgarian: груб (grub) — unrefined, crude
  • Bulgarian: нешлифован (nešlifovan) — unrefined, crude
  • Chinese Mandarin: 粗野的 (cūyěde) — unrefined, crude
  • Czech: neotesaný — unrefined, crude
  • Czech: obhroublý — unrefined, crude
  • Czech: neomalený — unrefined, crude
  • Czech: hrubý — unrefined, crude
  • Czech: neslušný — unrefined, crude
  • Finnish: karkea — unrefined, crude
  • Finnish: tökerö — unrefined, crude
  • Finnish: hiomaton — unrefined, crude
  • Finnish: raaka — unrefined, crude
  • Finnish: hienostumaton — unrefined, crude
  • Finnish: epähieno — unrefined, crude
  • Finnish: tahditon — unrefined, crude
  • French: rustre — unrefined, crude
  • German: grobschlächtig — unrefined, crude
  • German: tumb — unrefined, crude
  • Greek: άξεστος (áxestos) — unrefined, crude
  • Ancient Greek: βάναυσος (bánausos) — unrefined, crude
  • Hindi: अशिष्ट (aśiṣṭ) — unrefined, crude
  • Hindi: असभ्य (asabhya) — unrefined, crude
  • Hungarian: faragatlan — unrefined, crude
  • Hungarian: csiszolatlan — unrefined, crude
  • Irish: aibéiseach — unrefined, crude
  • Irish: amhlánta — unrefined, crude
  • Irish: amhchaoin — unrefined, crude
  • Irish: tútach — unrefined, crude
  • Italian: rozzo — unrefined, crude
  • Italian: grossolano — unrefined, crude
  • Italian: grezzo — unrefined, crude
  • Italian: squasinodeo — unrefined, crude
  • Latin: horridus — unrefined, crude
  • Macedonian: груб (grub) — unrefined, crude
  • Macedonian: су́ров (súrov) — unrefined, crude
  • Māori: mohoao — unrefined, crude
  • Māori: mohowao — unrefined, crude
  • Māori: tūhourangi — unrefined, crude
  • Māori: pakirara — unrefined, crude
  • Norwegian: ukultivert — unrefined, crude
  • Occitan: ruste — unrefined, crude
  • Occitan: grossièr — unrefined, crude
  • Occitan: brut — unrefined, crude
  • Plautdietsch: onbeschläpen — unrefined, crude
  • Plautdietsch: bollboarich — unrefined, crude
  • Portuguese: bruto — unrefined, crude
  • Russian: гру́бый (grúbyj) — unrefined, crude
  • Russian: неотёсанный (neotjósannyj) — unrefined, crude
  • Scottish Gaelic: gràisgeil — unrefined, crude
  • Spanish: grosero — unrefined, crude
  • Spanish: basto — unrefined, crude
  • Spanish: chocarrero — unrefined, crude
  • Spanish: rústico — unrefined, crude
  • Spanish: zafio — unrefined, crude
  • Spanish: garrulo — unrefined, crude
  • Spanish: bravío — unrefined, crude
  • Swedish: ohyfsad — unrefined, crude
  • Swedish: ofin — unrefined, crude
  • Swedish: ohövlig — unrefined, crude
  • Ottoman Turkish: یوغون (yoğun) — unrefined, crude
  • Ottoman Turkish: بیاغی (bayağı) — unrefined, crude