lewd

CEFRC2

/ljuːd/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Sexually rude or offensive in an obvious way.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Lay; not clerical.

Examples

  • He was just a lewd old man.

  • Tom was accused of performing a lewd act in public.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • /luːd/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings
  1. Lascivious, sexually promiscuous, rude.

  2. Vulgar, common; typical of the lower orders.

  3. Base, vile, reprehensible.

More examples

In context
  • My ſcoles are not for unthriftes untaught, / For frantick faitours half mad and half ſtraught; / But my learning is of another degree / To taunt theim like liddrons, lewde as thei bee.

  • So these great clerks their little wisdom show / To mock the lewd, as learn'd in this as they.

  • But the Jews, which believed not, […] took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, […] and assaulted the house of Jason.

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Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English lewed, lewd, leued (“unlearned, lay, lascivious”), from Old English lǣwede (“unlearned, ignorant, lay”), of uncertain origin. Formally similar to a derivative of the past participle of Old English lǣwan (“to reveal, betray”) in the sense of "exposed as being unlearned" or "easily betrayed, clueless", from Proto-West Germanic *lāwijan, from Proto-Germanic *lēwijaną (“to betray”), from *lēwą (“an opportunity, cause”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēw- (“to leave”). If so, then cognate with Old High German gilāen, firlāen (“to betray”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galēwjan, “to give over, betray”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐍅 (lēw, “an opportunity, cause”). Or, according to the OED, probably f...