dude
/duːd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.81 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A term of address for someone, often but not exclusively a man, particularly when hailing, cautioning them or offering advice.
Colloquial
noun
A birder who has expensive clothing and equipment, but scant knowledge of birds, their fieldmarks, habits, etc.
Derogatory
noun
In the west, a city slicker with scant knowledge of horses, cattle, or frontier survival.
American usage
intj
A term of address, usually for a man, conveying awe, excitement, surprise, annoyance, etc.
Slang
Example Sentences
- "So we were at the mall and these two dudes just walk up to us and say "hi"."
- "A very pretty little dudine of Fifth Avenue is much admired by the dudes in her neighborhood, and it has been observed on several occasions that she appeared to be able to discriminate between them, and not only shows a preference for one dude over another; but is able to recognize the dudes she likes after an interval of separation. It is said, also, that in accepting the attentions of her dude wooers, she shows a peculiar mimicry of the coquettish manners of human girls."
- "At first sight it may seem odd that the character-reader should in any case declare himself incapable of distinguishing sex in writing. […] The most prevalent reason for this probably lies in the so-called "emancipation of women," who, on aping the masculine pursuits and propensities, really acquire the virile tone of character. In a similar way the "dude" of the day becomes androgynous; and the result in one case is a masculine soul in a woman's shape, and in the other a feminine soul in the degraded form of the so-called "dude"."
- "At first Europeans didn't realize what chocolate could be—poor guys! [Christopher] Columbus saw cacao beans in 1503, but he didn't have a clue. (No surprise—dude thought he was in India!)"
- "Though the term "dude" originated as a term to describe a certain type of male, and then later to refer to men in general, today it is often used to refer to both genders, at least in certain parts of the United States. Dudeism doesn't recognize "dude" as a gender-specific word. We consider both women and men who exhibit dude-like qualities to be "dudes," and assert that the word "dude" can mean many different things depending on the context."
- "My grandpa fought in World War II He was such a noble dude I can’t even finish school Missed my mom and left too soon"
Etymology
Uncertain, though likely a clipping of doodle (“fool, simpleton, mindless person”), perhaps with reference to the fashionable “Yankee Doodle dandy” in the 18th-century lyrics of the song “Yankee Doodle”; the word is first attested in 1883 as a New York City slang term of contempt for a “fastidious man, fop”. If so, then related to German Low German Dudeldop, Dudendop (“fool, dunce”), Saterland Frisian Duddigegen (“idiot”). It has also been suggested that the word is derived from dudes (“old rags”; compare duds) and dudesman (“scarecrow”), or possibly related to dawdle; It has also been suggested the word derives from the Irish dúid. The common claim that the term derives from (or is) a word for a camel's foreskin (or some other vulgar thing, like a hair on a cow, horse, donkey, or elephant's bottom) is false.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /duːd/
- British English: /d(j)uːd/
Usage
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Colloquial
- Slang
- Derogatory
- Archaic