different between naked vs bald

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English naked, from Old English nacod, from Proto-West Germanic *nak(k)wad, from Proto-Germanic *nakwadaz, from Proto-Indo-European *neg?- (“naked”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ne?k?d/
• (Southern American English) IPA^(key): /?n?k?d/

Adjective

naked (comparative more naked, superlative most naked)

1. Bare, not covered by clothing.

   She was as naked as the day she was born.

2. (obsolete) Lacking some clothing; clothed only in underwear.
   • 1680, James Gordon, History of Scots Affairs:

     For no body would staye to give them intelligence, the countrey people running evry wher out of ther waye, and some of them flying out of ther bedds nacked in their shirts, who runne to the neerest rockes on the sea syde; so formidable was ther very name.

3. Glib, without decoration, put bluntly.

   This is the naked truth.

   The naked facts lay there on the table, enclosed within the files.
4. Characterized by the nakedness of the people concerned or to whom the described noun is attributed.
   • 1666, Samuel Pepys, Diary:

     So here I went the first time into a naked bed, only my drawers on; and did sleep pretty well: but still both sleeping and waking had a fear of fire in my heart, that I took little rest.

   • 1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:

     The satirical historian has not blushed to describe the naked scenes which Theodora was not ashamed to exhibit in the theatre.

5. (obsolete) Unarmed.
   • 1727, Daniel Defoe, An essay on the history and reality of apparitions:

     You an’t even with me yet, ?ays ?he; I ?corn as much to take up a Sword again?t a Naked Man; as you ought to have ?corn’d, if you had been a Gentleman, to give the Lie to a Woman.

6. Unaided, unaccompanied.
   • 1579, William Wilkinson, A confutation of certaine articles deliuered vnto the Familye of Loue:

     Christ commeth not bare or naked, but clothed and accompanied with all his mercies.

   • 2001, Asger Aaboe, Episodes From the Early History of Astronomy:

     If all celestial bodies visible to the naked eye are thus mapped on the celestial sphere, it becomes apparent that the vast majority of them remain in fixed patterns with respect to each other: They form recognizable constellations that, in turn, remain unchangeably distributed.

7. Unprotected, uncovered; (by extension) without a condom.

   The tendrils of the naked flame stretched into the skies.

   I entered her naked and came in her too.

8. (finance, of a derivative contract) Where the writer (seller) does not own the underlying asset to cover the contract.

   a naked put, a naked call

   Synonym: uncovered

9. (literary) Resourceless, poor, lacking means.
   • 1480, anonymous, printed by William Caxton, Cura Sapientiæ; or, The Court of Sapience:

     I knowe my self moost naked in al artes, / My comune ne vulgare eke moost interupte, / And I conversaunte and born in the partes / Where my natyfe langage is moost corrupt, / And with most sundry tonges myxt and rupte.

   • c. 1625, John Fletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant:

     I am a poor Man, naked, / Yet ?omething for Remembrance; four a piece, Gentlemen, / And ?o my Body where you plea?e.

10. (with “of”) Lacking or devoid of something.
    • 1581, Walter Haddon and John Foxe, trans. James Bell, Against Ierome Osorius Byshopp of Siluane in Portingall and Against His Slaunderous Inuectiues: An Aunswere Apologeticall: for the Necessary Defence of the Euangelicall Doctrine and Veritie:

      Freewill is made naked of all maner merite.

    • 1619, Samuel Purchas, Purchas his Pilgrim: Microcosmus, or the Historie of Man, relating the Wonders of his Generation, Vanities in his Degeneration, Necessity of His Regeneration:

      Their eyes were opened to ?ee their nakedne??e: naked they were of diuine protection and fauor, naked of Angelicall guard and cu?todie, naked of Humane puritie and holine??e, naked of dutifull subiection from the rebelling Creatures;

    • 1969, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist:

      I have spent about three weeks at home since Dec 1. As always, I am naked of good article ideas—despite my constant involvement with good subjects.

11. (obsolete) Blank, clean, empty.
    • c. 1660, Robert South, Sermon on John vii. 17.:

      For in the first it finds the mind naked and unprepossessed with any former notions, and so easily and insensibly gains upon the assent, grows up with it, and incorporates into it.

12. (of land, rocks, or plants) Barren, having no foliage, unvegetated.
13. Uncomfortable or vulnerable, as if missing something important.

    I feel naked without my mobile phone.

14. (of food or other consumer products) Without any additives, or without some component that would usually be included.

    a naked burrito (i.e. one without a tortilla); a naked burger (without a bun)

    Naked Bacon (a brand without nitrates or phosphates)

15. (physics) Of a singularity, not hidden within an event horizon and thus observable from other parts of spacetime.

Synonyms

• bare, bareskin, nude, starkers, unclad, unclothed, butt-naked, bare-assed, in one's birthday suit, skyclad, showing skin
• See also Thesaurus:nude

• (without a condom): Thesaurus:condomless

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ne?kt/

Verb

naked

1. simple past tense and past participle of nake

Anagrams

• Danek, Kaden, knead

Middle English

Alternative forms

• nakid, nakyd, naaked, naket, nakit, nakede

Etymology

From Old English nacod, from Proto-Germanic *nakwadaz. Compare naken.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?na?kid/

Adjective

naked

1. Uncovered; exposed, visible:
   1. Fully bodily uncovered; naked, clothesless or unclothed.
   2. Partially bodily uncovered or bald; uncovered in a specific area.
   3. Of a melee weapon; lacking a hilt or sheath; openly carried or readied.
   4. Of an wound; exposed; open, showing internals.
   5. Apparent, unveiled, obviously visible (in contrast to a previous state)
2. (often with a item specified) Having none of something; bare of a thing or quality:
   1. Having no armour or weapons; unequipped for battle.
   2. Unvegetated; lacking plant growth or ground cover.
   3. Bereft of possessions or accoutrements; without one's or its trappings.
3. Put in literal form; without decoration or accoutrements.
4. Referring to the core or substance of something.
5. (rare) Undiluted, unqualified, unconditional.
6. (rare) Restrained, unextended, bound.
7. (rare) Lacking feelings or sympathy.

Related terms

• nakedhed
• nakednesse
• nakidly

Descendants

• English: naked
• Scots: nakit

References

• “n?ked, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-21.

Noun

naked

1. An exposed part of the body.
2. (rare) The state of being naked.

References

• “n?ked, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-21.

English

Etymology

From Middle English bald, balde, belde, ballid, balled (“bald”), of uncertain origin. Probably formed from Middle English bal, balle (“ball, round object, knoll, head”). Compare with Old Danish bældet (“bald”).

Alternate etymology has Gothic ????????????????- (bala-, “shining, grey (of body)”), Old English b?l (“fire, flame; funeral pyre”) (both from Proto-Germanic *b?l?), Albanian balë (“white spot on the forehead”) and ball (“forehead”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /b??ld/, [b???d] Non-standard: IPA^(key): /b??ld/, [b??ld]
• (US) IPA^(key): /b?ld/; (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /b?ld/
• Rhymes: -??ld
• Homophone: balled

Adjective

bald (comparative balder, superlative baldest)

1. Having no hair, fur or feathers.

   Synonym: hairless

   Antonyms: faxed, haired

   • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

     The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces.

2. (specifically) Having no hair on the head.
3. (by extension) Denuded of any covering.

4. Of tyres: whose surface is worn away.
5. (of a statement or account) Unembellished.
6. (of a statement) Without evidence or support being provided.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

bald (plural balds)

1. (Appalachia) A mountain summit or crest that lacks forest growth despite a warm climate conducive to such, as is found in many places in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Verb

bald (third-person singular simple present balds, present participle balding, simple past and past participle balded)

1. (intransitive) To become bald.

See also

• callow
• nott

Translations

Further reading

• bald on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Appalachian balds on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• ABDL, DLAB, blad

German

Etymology

From Middle High German balde, from Old High German baldo, adverb of bald, pald, from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz, from Proto-Indo-European *b?el-. Cognate with Dutch boud, English bold.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /balt/
• Homophone: ballt

Adverb

bald (comparative eher or früher, superlative am ehesten or frühesten)

1. soon, near in time

   Synonyms: demnächst, in Kürze, zeitnah

2. almost

   Synonyms: fast, beinahe

Derived terms

• alsbald
• bis bald
• in Bälde
• sobald

Related terms

• -bold

Further reading

• “bald” in Duden online

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?ld/, [b??d]

Adjective

bald (Anglian)

1. Alternative form of beald

Declension

Old High German

Alternative forms

• pald

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz, whence also Old English bald, Old Norse ballr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bald/

Adjective

bald

1. bold, quick

Derived terms

• bald?
• baldo

Descendants

• Middle High German: balt

References

• Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz, whence also Old English bald, Old Norse ballr.

Adjective

bald (comparative baldoro, superlative baldost)

1. bold, fearless

Declension

Descendants

• Middle Low German: bald, bold, balt, bolt
  • German Low German: bold, boll