couth¹

[kooth] /kuθ/

adjective

showing or having good manners or sophistication; smooth:

Sending her flowers would be a very couth thing to do.

noun

good manners; refinement:

to be lacking in couth.

Origin

1895-1900; back formation from uncouth

couth²

[kooth] /kuθ/

adjective, Archaic.

known or acquainted with.

Origin

before 1000; Middle English, Old English cūth past participle of cunnan to know (see can², could)

Examples from the web for couth

Of course, it helps that we're a couth bunch and so are our commenters.

British Dictionary definitions for couth

couth

/kuːθ/

adjective

(facetious) refined

(archaic) familiar; known

Word Origin

Old English cūth known, past participle of cunnan to know; sense 1, back formation from uncouth

Word Origin and History for couth

adj.

Old English cuðe "known," past participle of cunnan (see can (v.1)), from Proto-Germanic *kunthaz (cf. Old Frisian kuth "known," Old Saxon cuth, Old High German kund, German kund, Gothic kunþs "known").

Died out as such 16c. with the emergence of could, but the old word was reborn 1896, with a new sense of "cultured, refined," as a back-formation from uncouth (q.v.). The Old English word forms the first element in the man's proper name Cuthbert, literally "famous-bright."