different between puerile vs awkward

English

Etymology

From Latin puer?lis (“childish”), from puer (“child, boy”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?pj??.?a?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?pj???l/, /?pj??a?l/

Adjective

puerile (comparative more puerile, superlative most puerile)

1. Childish; trifling; silly.

   Synonyms: juvenile, silly, trifling; see also Thesaurus:childish, Thesaurus:insignificant

   • 1850, Thomas De Quincey, French and English Manners (originally published in Hogg's Instructor

     The French have been notorious through generations for their puerile affectation of Roman forms, models, and historic precedents.

   • 1927, Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, page 79:

     From the table he had received the gout; from the alcove a tendency to convulsions; from the grandeeship a pride so vast and puerile that he seldom heard anything that was said to him and talked to the ceiling in a perpetual monologue; from the exile, oceans of boredom, a boredom so persuasive that it was like pain,—he woke up with it and spent the day with it, and it sat by his bed all night watching his sleep.

   • 1930 July, West Kirby, Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon, Preface (page 9 of the Dover 1968 reprint of L&FM and Star Maker):

     Today we should welcome, and even study, every serious attempt to envisage the future of our race, not merely to grasp the very diverse and often tragic possibilities that confront us, but also that we may familiarize ourselves with the certainty that many of our cherished ideals would seem puerile to more developed minds.

2. Characteristic of, or pertaining to, a boy or boys; compare puellile. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• puerilism
• puerility

Translations

See also

• boyish
• yobbish
• youthful

Anagrams

• pie rule

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

puerile

1. inflection of pueril:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Etymology

From Latin puer?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pwe?ri.le/

Adjective

puerile (plural puerili)

1. puerile, childish, juvenile, boyish
2. (rare, relational) children's, baby

Synonyms

• infantile

Related terms

Anagrams

• pelurie

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /pu.e?ri?.le/, [pu???i????]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /pu.e?ri.le/, [pu???i?l?]

Adjective

puer?le

1. nominative neuter singular of puer?lis
2. accusative neuter singular of puer?lis
3. vocative neuter singular of puer?lis

References

• puerile in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

English

Etymology

From awk (“odd, clumsy”) +? -ward.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???kw?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??kw?d/
• (Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /??kw?d/
• Hyphenation: awk?ward

Adverb

awkward (comparative more awkward, superlative most awkward)

1. (obsolete) In a backwards direction.
   • :

     Than groned the knyght for his grymme woundis, and gyrdis to Sir Gawayne and awkewarde hym strykes, and […] kut thorow a vayne […].

Adjective

awkward (comparative awkwarder or more awkward, superlative awkwardest or most awkward)

1. Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments.

   Synonyms: clumsy, lubberly, ungraceful, unhandy

   Antonyms: dexterous, gainly, graceful, handy, skillful

2. Not easily managed or effected; embarrassing.

3. Lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction.

   Synonym: maladroit

   Antonyms: amiable, cool

4. Perverse; adverse; difficult to handle.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

awkward (plural awkwards)

1. Someone or something that is awkward.