prude

See also: Prude, prudě, prüde, and пруде

English

Etymology

From French prude, from Old French prude, prode, feminine of prou, prod, prud (“good, excellent, brave”), from Latin. Related to proud but unrelated to prudent.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pro͞od, IPA^(key): /pɹuːd/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -uːd

Noun

prude (plural prudes)

1. A person who is or tries to be excessively proper, especially one who is easily offended by matters of a sexual nature.
   • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, IV [Uniform ed., p. 62]:

     He became shy. "I hadn't meant to tell you. It's not quite for a lady." For, like most men who are rather animal, he was intellectually a prude.

   • 1991, Robert M. Pirsig, Lila:

     If you didn't go for Lila you're some kind of prissy old prude. If you did go for her you were some kind of dirty old man.

Synonyms

• prig
• goody-goody
• puritan
• celibacist
• erotophobe
• antisexualist

Derived terms

• prudery
• prudish

Related terms

• proud

Translations

A person who is or tries to be excessively proper

• Czech: prudérní (cs) m
• Danish: sippe c, snerpe c
• Dutch: preut (nl)
• Esperanto: prudulo, prudulino
• Finnish: sievistelijä (fi)
• French: bégueule (fr) m or f, prude (fr) m or f, sainte-nitouche (fr) f
• German: prüde Person f, Prüder m, Prüde f
• Greek: σεμνότυφος (el) (semnótyfos)
• Hebrew: חָסוּד‎ m (ẖasúd)
• Hungarian: prűd (hu)
• Icelandic: tepra f, pempía f

• Indonesian: sok suci (id)
• Italian: prude m
• Polish: świętoszek (pl) m, świętoszka f
• Portuguese: puritano m, puritana f, pudico (pt) m
• Romanian: pudic (ro) m
• Russian: свято́ша (ru) c (svjatóša)
• Spanish: mojigato (es) m, mojigata (es) f
• Swedish: pryd person
• Tagalog: maliyoso f
• Turkish: iffet-füruş, namus düşkünü, namus kumkuması

Further reading

• prude in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• prude in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Adjective

prude (comparative more prude, superlative most prude)

1. Prudish.

Anagrams

• Dupre, drupe, duper, perdu, pured, red up, red-up

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁyd/

Adjective

prude (plural prudes)

1. prude

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Italian

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ude

Verb

prude

1. third-person singular present indicative of prudere

Anagrams

• drupe

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Old French

Adjective

prude

1. feminine singular of pruz