prude (pr d)n. One who is excessively concerned with being or appearing to be proper, modest, or righteous. [French, short for prude femme, virtuous woman : Old French prude, feminine of prud, virtuous; see proud + French femme, woman (from Latin f  mina; see feminine).]Word History: Being called a prude is rarely considered a compliment, but if we dig into the history of the word prude, we find that it has a noble past. The change for the worse took place in French. French prude first had a good sense, "wise woman," but apparently a woman could be too wise or, in the eyes of some, too observant of decorum and propriety. Thus prude took on the sense in French that was brought into English along with the word, first recorded in 1704. The French word prude was a shortened form of prude femme (earlier in Old French prode femme), a word modeled on earlier preudomme, "a man of experience and integrity." The second part of this word is, of course, homme, "man." Old French prod, meaning "wise, prudent," is from Vulgar Latin pr  dis with the same sense. Prdis in turn comes from Late Latin prde, "advantageous," derived from the verb prdesse, "to be good." Despite this history filled with usefulness, profit, wisdom, and integrity, prude has become a term of reproach. |
prude [pruːd]
n
a person who affects or shows an excessively modest, prim, or proper attitude, esp regarding sex
[from French, from prudefemme, from Old French prode femme respectable woman; see proud]
prudish adj
prudishly adv
prudishness , prudery n
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. | prude - a person excessively concerned about propriety and decorum disagreeable person, unpleasant person - a person who is not pleasant or agreeable |
prude
noun prig, puritan, goody-goody (informal), old maid (informal), stuffed shirt (informal), schoolmarm (Brit. informal), Holy Joe (informal), Holy Willie (informal) I'm no prude but I've never heard such filth.
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