Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗A man, generally a younger man. · A term of address for someone, often but not exclusively a man, particularly when hailing, cautioning them or offering advice. · A tourist. · A birder who has expensive clothing and equipment, but scant knowledge of birds, their fieldmarks, habits, etc.
A term of address, usually for a man, conveying awe, excitement, surprise, annoyance, etc.
To address someone as dude. · To take a vacation in a dude ranch. · Usually followed by up: to dress up, to wear smart or special clothes.
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.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Cognate mentionDuddigegenstq
- Cognate mentiondúidga
This page abbreviates 2 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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