different between gaudy vs florid

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????.di/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???.di/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /???.di/
• Rhymes: -??di

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain; perhaps from gaud (“ornament, trinket”) +? -y, perhaps ultimately from Old French gaudir (“to rejoice”).

Alternatively, from Middle English gaudi, gawdy (“yellowish”), from Old French gaude, galde (“weld (the plant)”), from Frankish *walda, from Proto-Germanic *walþ?, *walþij?, akin to Old English *weald, *wielde (>Middle English welde, wolde and Anglo-Latin walda (“alum”)), Middle Low German wolde, Middle Dutch woude. More at English weld.

A common claim that the word derives from Antoni Gaudí, designer of Barcelona's Sagrada Família Basilica, is incorrect: the word was in use centuries before Gaudí was born.

Adjective

gaudy (comparative gaudier, superlative gaudiest)

1. very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

     The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings.

   • 2005, Thomas Hauser & Marilyn Cole Lownes, "How Bling-bling Took Over the Ring", The Observer, 9 January 2005

     Gaudy jewellery might offend some people's sense of style. But former heavyweight champion and grilling-machine entrepreneur George Foreman is philosophical about today's craze for bling-bling.

2. (obsolete) fun; merry; festive

   • And for my strange petition I will make
     Amends hereafter by some gaudy day

   • And then, there he was, slim and handsome, and dressed the gaudiest and prettiest you ever saw...

Synonyms

• (excessively showy): tawdry, flashy, garish, kitschy
• Thesaurus:gaudy

Derived terms

• gaudily
• gaudy night

Translations

Noun

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. One of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Latin gaudium (“joy”). Doublet of joy.

Noun

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally held during the summer vacations.

English

Etymology

From French floride (“flourishing”), from Latin floridus (“flowery, blooming”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fl???d/

Adjective

florid (comparative more florid, superlative most florid)

1. Having a rosy or pale red colour; ruddy.
2. Elaborately ornate; flowery.
3. (of a disorder, especially mental) In a blatant, vivid, or highly disorganized state.

   florid psychosis

   • 2019, Dave Eggers, The Parade, Vintage Books N.Y., p. 107

     His visions of their plans and his imminent detention were so florid that the reality, wherein he was unharmed and simply sitting in the cab of the RS-80 and continuing his slow work on the road, was far less plausible.

4. (obsolete) Flourishing; in the bloom of health.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol I, ch. 35:

     Mean while Peregrine guessing the good fortune of his friend, and allured by the attractions of the maid, who was a cleanly florid girl, employed his address to such effectual purpose, that she yielded to his efforts; and he was as happy as such a conquest could make him.

Translations

Anagrams

• Ilford

German

Etymology

From Latin floridus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [flo??i?t]
• Hyphenation: flo?rid

Adjective

florid (comparative florider, superlative am floridesten)

1. (of a disease) active, florid

Declension

Further reading

• “florid” in Duden online