loud

See also: Loud

English

Alternative forms

• lowd (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: loud, IPA^(key): /laʊd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊd

Etymology 1

From Middle English loude, loud, lud, from Old English hlūd (“loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlūd, from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz, *hlūþaz (“heard”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewtos (“heard, famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). More at listen.

Cognates

Akin to Scots loud, lowd (“loud”), Swedish ljud, West Frisian lûd (“loud”), Dutch luid (“loud”), Low German lud (“loud”), German laut (“loud”), Irish clú (“repute”), Welsh clywed (“heard”), clod (“praise”), Latin laudare (“praise”), Tocharian A/B klots/klautso 'ear', klyostär 'heard', Ancient Greek κλυτός (klutós, “famous”), Albanian quaj (“to name, call”), shquar (“famous, notorious”), Old Armenian լու (lu, “the act of hearing”), Old Church Slavonic слава (slava, “glory”), слово (slovo, “word”), Sanskrit श्रव (śráva, “glory”).

Adjective

One of humanity's loudest inventions: the Saturn V rocket. Its roar was deafening.

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. (of a sound) Of great intensity.

   Turn that music down; it's too loud.

   What was that? It sounded like a really loud sneeze.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

2. (of a person, thing, event, etc.) Noisy.

   a loud party that went on all night

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs vii:11:

     She is loud and stubborn.

3. (of a person, event, etc.) Not subtle or reserved, brash.
   • 1988 December 9, Ben Joravsky, “Property-tax assessments rise; north siders are revolting”, in Chicago Reader‎^[1]:

     Some of the loudest blubberers are developers who, having made enormous profits as a result of local, state, and federal subsidies, complain that government doesn't do enough for them.

4. (of clothing, decorations, etc.) Having unpleasantly and tastelessly contrasting colours or patterns; gaudy.

   a loud style of dress;  loud colors

   • 2006, Janis Mink, Joan Miró, →ISBN, page 22:

     In comparison with the loud Portrait of E.C. Ricart (ill. p. 13) two years earlier, Miró has captured a soft, hushed atmosphere here.

5. (of marijuana, slang) High-quality; premium; (by extension) having a strong or pungent odour indicating good quality.

Synonyms

• (of clothing, etc): garish, gaudy

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “sound”): quiet, silent, soft
• (antonym(s) of “person”): quiet

Derived terms

Terms derived from loud (adjective)

• aloud
• loudhailer
• loudly
• loudmouth
• loudness
• loudsome
• loudspeaker

Translations

of a sound

• Afrikaans: hard
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: (indefinite) عَالٍ (ʕālin), (definite) اَلْعَالِي (al-ʕālī)
• Armenian: բարձր (hy) (barjr)
• Azerbaijani: uca (az), bərk (az)
• Belarusian: гу́чны (húčny)
• Bhojpuri: जोर (jōr)
• Bulgarian: гръ́мък (bg) (grǎ́mǎk)
• Burmese: ကျယ် (my) (kyai)
• Catalan: fort (ca), alt (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏍᏓᏯ (asdaya)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大聲的／大声的 (zh) (dàshēng de)

• Czech: hlasitý (cs)
• Danish: høj (da)
• Dutch: luid (nl), luide (nl), hard (nl), harde (nl)
• Esperanto: laŭta
• Estonian: vali
• Faroese: høgur, harður
• Finnish: äänekäs (fi), kova (fi), luja (fi), voimakas (fi), voimakkuinen
• French: fort (fr)
• Galician: alto (gl)
• Georgian: ხმამაღალი (xmamaɣali), ხმაძლიერი (xmaʒlieri), მჟღერი (mžɣeri)
• German: laut (de)
• Greek: ηχηρός (el) (ichirós), δυνατός (el) (dynatós)

  Ancient: μέγας (mégas)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: בְּקוֹל רָם
• Hindi: ज़ोरदार (zordar)
• Hungarian: hangos (hu), zajos (hu)
• Ido: lauta (io)
• Ingrian: suur, äänekäs, väkövä, kuuluva
• Irish: ard (ga), glórach
• Italian: forte (it) m or f
• Japanese: 音が大きい (おとがおおきい, oto ga ōkii), (of a voice) 大声 (ja) (おおごえ, ōgoe), 騒々しい (そうぞうしい, sōzōshii), 喧しい (ja) (やかましい, yakamashii), 煩い (ja) (うるさい, urusai)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: қатты (qatty), сартыл (sartyl)
• Khmer: ខ្លាំង (km) (khlang)
• Korean: 시끄럽다 (ko) (sikkeureopda)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: please add this translation if you can

• Laboya: kadola
• Lao: ດັງ (dang)
• Latin: magnus (la)
• Latvian: skaļš, skanīgs
• Lithuanian: garsus
• Luxembourgish: haart
• Macedonian: гласен (glasen)
• Malay: kuat (ms), lantang (ms) (voice)
• Maltese: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: tīhoihoi, tīwerawera, rahi, rarahi, tiori
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: чанга (mn) (čanga)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høy (no), høylytt (no)

• Persian: بلند (fa) (boland)
• Plautdietsch: lud
• Polish: głośny (pl)
• Portuguese: alto (pt)
• Romanian: tare (ro)
• Russian: гро́мкий (ru) (grómkij)
• Samoan: leotele
• Scots: lood
• Scottish Gaelic: faramach, fuaimneach
• Serbo-Croatian: glȁsan (sh), bȕčan (sh), гласан, бучан
• Slovak: hlasný
• Slovene: glasen (sl)
• Spanish: fuerte (es), sonoro (es), duro (es) (Colombia)
• Swahili: -kubwa (sw)
• Swedish: hög (sv)
• Tetum: maka'as
• Thai: ดัง (th) (dang)
• Tibetan: སྐད་ཆེན་པོ (skad chen po)
• Tongan: leʻo lahi
• Turkish: yüksek (tr)
• Ukrainian: голосни́й (holosnýj), гучни́й (hučnýj)
• Urdu: اُونچی f (aūncī), تیز (ur) (tez), زیادہ (zyāda), زوردار (zordar)
• Uzbek: qichqiroq (uz)
• Vietnamese: to (vi)
• Volapük: laodik (vo)
• Welsh: uchel (cy)

noisy

• Afrikaans: hard
• Arabic: (indefinite) عَالٍ (ʕālin), (definite) اَلْعَالِي (al-ʕālī), صَخِب (ṣaḵib)
• Belarusian: шу́мны (šúmny), шумлі́вы (šumlívy), гу́чны (húčny)
• Bulgarian: шумен (bg) (šumen)
• Catalan: estrident, sorollós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大聲的／大声的 (zh) (dàshēng de)

• Czech: hlasitý (cs), hlučný (cs)
• Dutch: luidruchtig (nl), luidruchtige (nl)
• Esperanto: brua
• Finnish: äänekäs (fi), kovaääninen (fi)
• French: bruyant (fr)
• Galician: ruidoso (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: laut (de)
• Greek: θορυβώδης (el) (thoryvódis), βροντερός (el) (vronterós), βροντώδης (el) (vrontódis)
• Hungarian: hangos (hu)
• Icelandic: hávær (is)
• Ingrian: äänekäs
• Irish: callánach
• Italian: rumoroso (it)
• Japanese: 煩い (ja) (うるさい, urusai), 姦しい (ja) (かしましい, kashimashii), 囂しい (ja) (かまびすしい, kamabisushii), 騒がしい (ja) (さわがしい, sawagashii), 騒々しい (そうぞうしい, sōzōshii), 騒然 (ja) (そうぜん, sōzen), 喧しい (ja) (やかましい, yakamashii)
• Korean: 시끄럽다 (ko) (sikkeureopda)
• Limburgish: helle (li)
• Maori: hoihoi, turituri, māniania, kurupākara, haunene, makekeno, tīhoihoi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høylytt (no)

• Polish: hałaśliwy (pl) m, głośny (pl) m, donośny (pl) m
• Portuguese: barulhento (pt)
• Romanian: gălăgios (ro), zgomotos (ro)
• Russian: гро́мкий (ru) (grómkij), шу́мный (ru) (šúmnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: faramach, fuaimneach
• Serbo-Croatian: glȁsan (sh), bȕčan (sh)
• Slovene: hrupen
• Spanish: ruidoso (es), estrepitoso (es), escandaloso (es), bullicioso (es), estentóreo (es)
• Swedish: ljudlig (sv), högljudd (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: шу́мний (šúmnyj), гучни́й (hučnýj)
• Vietnamese: ầm ĩ (vi)

of a colour, clothing, etc.

• Bulgarian: крещящ (bg) (kreštjašt)
• Catalan: cridaner (ca), llampant (ca)
• Czech: křiklavý
• Dutch: vloekend (nl), schreeuwerig (nl), fel (nl)
• Finnish: räikeä (fi)
• French: voyant (fr)
• Georgian: მყვირალა (mq̇virala), თვალშისაცემი (tvalšisacemi), ჭყეტელა (č̣q̇eṭela)
• German: grell (de)
• Greek: φανταχτερός (el) (fantachterós), χτυπητός (el) (chtypitós), κραυγαλέος (el) (kravgaléos)
• Hungarian: harsány (hu)
• Irish: scéiniúil, gáifeach
• Japanese: 派手な (ja) (はでな, hade na), けばけばしい (ja) (kebakebashii), どぎつい (ja) (dogitsui), 毒々しい (どくどくしい, dokudokushii)
• Lithuanian: rėksmingas
• Maori: tiori
• Polish: krzykliwy (pl)
• Portuguese: berrante (pt)
• Russian: крича́щий (ru) (kričáščij)
• Spanish: chillón (es), vistoso (es), llamativo (es), colorinche (es) (Argentina, Peru)
• Tibetan: ཧར་པོ (har po)
• Urdu: تیز (ur) (tez)

Noun

loud (countable and uncountable, plural louds)

1. (colloquial) A loud sound or part of a sound.
   • 2012, Sam McGuire, Paul Lee, The Video Editor's Guide to Soundtrack Pro, page 103:

     The expander doesn't really make the louds louder and the softs softer in one step […]

2. (slang, uncountable) High-quality marijuana.

See also

• dank

Etymology 2

From Middle English loude, from Old English hlūde (“loudly”), from Proto-Germanic *hlūda, *hlūdô (“loudly”), related to Etymology 1.

Adverb

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. Loudly.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     Who knocks so loud at door?

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 14, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book 7, pages 71-72:

     Unluckily that worthy Officer having, in a literal Sense, taken his Fill of Liquor, had been some Time retired to his Bolster, where he was snoaring so loud, that it was not easy to convey a Noise in at his Ears capable of drowning that which issued from his Nostrils.

   • 2014 April 25, Paul Krugman, “The Piketty Panic”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Money still talks — indeed, thanks in part to the Roberts court, it talks louder than ever. Still, ideas matter too, shaping both how we talk about society and, eventually, what we do.

Derived terms

• for crying out loud
• for cryin' out loud
• laugh-out-loud
• loud and clear
• out-loud
• out loud
• say the quiet part loud
• say the quiet part out loud
• think out loud

 

Anagrams

• Ludo, ludo, ludo-, ould

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English hlūd, from Proto-West Germanic *hlūd, from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlutós.

Alternative forms

• loude, lowd, lowde, lud

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /luːd/

Adjective

loud (plural and weak singular loude, comparative loudere)

1. Loud, noisy; producing much sound.
2. (rare) Audible; detectable by hearing.
3. (rare) Obvious; easily detectable or discernible.

Related terms

• loude

Descendants

• English: loud
• Scots: loud, lood

References

• “lǒud, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-01.

Etymology 2

Adverb

loud

1. Alternative form of loude (“loudly”)