Ribaldly

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Exhibiting a form of wit that is both bawdy and humorous
2. In a way that uses coarse or risqué humor to provoke amusement
3. Expressed with humor that is rude, lewd, or irreverently playful

Etymology: "Ribaldly" is simply the adverb form of "ribald," with the ordinary English suffix "-ly" added to it. The suffix turns an adjective describing coarse, bawdy humor into a description of how something is said or done, so a joke told ribaldly is told in that earthy, irreverent manner. The base word "ribald" has a longer and more colorful past. It came into English from Old French "ribaud," a word meaning a low-born or lewd fellow, and the earliest English uses referred to a person of that sort, a common man or menial rather than a teller of dirty jokes. Only later did the word shift from describing the character of a person to describing the quality of their language and humor, which is the sense "ribaldly" carries.

Synonyms: coarsely, vulgarly, crassly, indecently, obscenely

Antonyms: decently, properly, respectably, refinedly, morally