gaudy: [16] Middle English had a colour term gaudy-green ‘yellowish-green’, which originally denoted ‘green produced by dye obtained from the plant dyer’s rocket, Reseda luteola’, a plant formerly known as weld [14]. The word weld came from a Germanic source which, borrowed into Old French, produced gaude – whence English gaudy-green. It has been claimed that this gaudy soon lost its literal meaning ‘produced from weld-dye’, and came to be interpreted as ‘bright’.
Other etymologists, however, favour the explanation that gaudy comes from gaud ‘joke, plaything’ [14], which was adapted from Old French gaudir ‘rejoice’, a descendant of Latin gaudēre ‘delight in’ (from which English gets joy).
gaudy (adj.)
"showy, tastelessly rich," c. 1600; earlier "joyfully festive" (1580s), probably a re-adjectivizing of gaudy (n.) "large, ornamental bead in a rosary" (early 14c.) via the noun gaud + -y (2.). In early Modern English it also could mean "full of trickery" (1520s).
Or possibly the adjective is from or influenced by Middle English noun gaudegrene (early 14c.), name of a yellowish-green color or pigment, originally of dye obtained from the weld plant (see weld (n.1)). This Germanic plant-name became gaude in Old French, and thus the Middle English word. Under this theory, the sense shifted from "weld-dye" to "bright ornamentation."
As a noun, "feast, festival" 1650s, from gaudy day "day of rejoicing" (1560s).
雙語例句
1. She was tricked out in gaudy dress.
她穿得華麗而俗氣.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
2. Gone are the support suspenders and gaudy steel rings that strangled the tower for much of the last decade.
過去十幾年間斜塔四周起支撐作用的吊桿和繞在塔身上的華而不實的鋼圈現已蕩然無存.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
3. His only peculiarity , was a habit of wearing impossibly gaudy neckties.
他唯一的怪癖就是佩帶俗得令人不敢置信的領帶.
來自辭典例句
4. The gaudy butterfly is sure that the flowers owe thanks to him.