dude

Meaning

Noun

1. (colloquial) A man, generally a younger man.
2. (colloquial) A term of address for someone, typically a man, particularly when cautioning them or offering advice.
3. An inexperienced cowboy.
4. (slang) A tourist.
5. A man who is very concerned about his dress and appearance; a dandy, a fop.

Intj

A term of address, usually for a man, conveying awe, excitement, surprise, annoyance, etc.

Verb

1. To address someone as dude.
2. To take a vacation in a dude ranch.
3. Usually followed by up: to dress up, to wear smart or special clothes.

Synonyms

dandy

guy

fop

fellow

bloke

buster

chap

swell

fella

clotheshorse

pal

sheik

sort

gallant

fashion plate

beau

jack

lad

feller

mate

🧉

coxcomb

boy

👦

kind

knave

man

👨

mold

mould

spark

stamp

type

vain person

amigo

sport

blighter

brand

breed

brother

👨‍👦

bruce

case

character

chum

city dweller

cobber

comrade

cove

cuss

dog

🐕

form

friend

geezer

hombre

homey

homie

Jack

Pronounced as (IPA)

/duːd/

Etymology

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.