999英语网 单词

couth的意思

couth

英 [kuθ] 美 [kθ]
  • adj. 有教养的;温文尔雅的

couth

英文词源


couth (adj.)
Old English cue "known," past participle of cunnan (see can (v.1)), from Proto-Germanic *kunthaz (cognates: Old Frisian kuth "known," Old Saxon cuth, Old High German kund, German kund, Gothic kuns "known").

Died out as such 16c. with the emergence of could, but the old word was reborn 1896, with a new sense of "cultured, refined," as a back-formation from uncouth (q.v.). The Old English word forms the first element in the man's proper name Cuthbert, literally "famous-bright."