uncouth

adj

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.

1. Unfamiliar, strange, foreign.

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

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

2. Clumsy, awkward.
3. Unrefined, crude.

   “I don't want to associate with uncouth people.”

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