Bawdry

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality or state of being obscene, indecent, or overly sexual in behavior or speech
2. A characteristic of crude, offensive, or inappropriate sexual content or comments
3. Displaying or containing lewdness, vulgarity, or offensive sexual matters in actions or words

Etymology: Before "bawdry" meant lewd talk, the root word "bawd" meant something closer to "bold" or "lively." It comes from Old French "baud," meaning cheerful or gay, which in turn came from a Germanic source related to the Old High German "bald," meaning bold. Over time the sense narrowed sharply, so that a "bawd" became a woman who kept a brothel or procured customers for one. "Bawdry" is formed by adding the suffix "-ry" to that noun, a pattern that gives words for a practice, a condition, or a body of things. Its meaning followed the same narrowing: from the business of a bawd, it came to mean the coarse, sexually suggestive material associated with such settings. The older cheerful sense survives mainly in the adjective "bawdy," which can still describe a song or joke that is merry and rude at once.

Synonyms: vulgarity, coarseness

Antonyms: decency, propriety