prudish

C2+ Topic:Ethics & Social Judgment

US /ˈprudɪʃ/ UK /ˈpruːdɪʃ/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
excessively concerned with propriety, especially about sex

Her prudish aunt was scandalized by the painting.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · excessively concerned with... prim priggish puritanicalstrait-lacedsqueamish demure prissystraitlaced

Opposites

permissive liberal libertinebroad-minded

Word family

Derived forms prudishlyprudishness

Related forms prudeprudery

Etymology

From prude (from French prude 'an excessively proper woman', a back-formation from prudefemme 'a respectable woman', from Old French prudefemme, related to prud'homme 'honorable man') + the suffix -ish.

prude French prud Old French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Ethics & Social Judgment Word Formation & Derivatives

# prudish

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈprudɪʃ
**IPA (UK):** ˈpruːdɪʃ

## Meanings
1. excessively concerned with propriety, especially about sex

## Examples
- Her prudish aunt was scandalized by the painting.

## Synonyms
- prim
- priggish
- puritanical
- strait-laced
- squeamish
- demure
- prissy
- straitlaced

## Antonyms
- permissive
- liberal
- libertine
- broad-minded

## Derived Forms
- prudishly
- prudishness

## Related Forms
- prude
- prudery

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: prude
- Root: prud

## Etymology
From prude (from French prude 'an excessively proper woman', a back-formation from prudefemme 'a respectable woman', from Old French prudefemme, related to prud'homme 'honorable man') + the suffix -ish.

## AI Etymology
Prudish is from prude (from French prude 'an excessively proper woman', a back-formation from prudefemme 'a respectable woman', from Old French prudefemme, related to prud'homme 'honorable man') + the suffix -ish. Important recorded forms include prude (French) and prud (Old French). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers excessively concerned with propriety, especially about sex. The wider family includes derived forms such as prudishly and prudishness and related words such as prude and prudery.

## Topics
- Ethics & Social Judgment
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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prudish

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