Etymograph

English

rude

Rude comes from Old French rude, from Latin rudis ‘rough, raw, rude, wild, untilled’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Hrew- ‘to tear up, dig up’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*Hrew-‘to tear up, dig up’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErudis‘rough, raw, rude, wild, untilled’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400rude
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1577same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*Hrew-‘to tear up, dig up’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErudis‘rough, raw, rude, wild, untilled’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400rude
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1577same form

Earliest quotation: 1577, John Milton, Paradise Lost: “The Air attrite to Fire, as late the Clouds…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *Hrew- ‘to tear up, dig up’

room, roster, 4 more

through Latin rudis ‘rough, raw, rude, wild, untilled’

erudite, erudition, 3 more

Today it means

adj Lacking in refinement or civility; bad-mannered; discourteous.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *Hrew- / rude

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