couth

1 [kooth] Facetious.
adjective
1.
showing or having good manners or sophistication; smooth: Sending her flowers would be a very couth thing to do.
noun
2.
good manners; refinement: to be lacking in couth.
Origin:
1895–1900; back formation from uncouth

Dictionary.com Unabridged

couth

2 [kooth]
adjective Archaic.
known or acquainted with.
Origin:
before 1000; Middle English, Old English cūth past participle of cunnan to know (see can2, could)

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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00:10
Couth is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
couth (kuːθ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—adj
1.  facetious refined
2.  archaic familiar; known
 
[Old English cūth known, past participle of cunnan to know; sense 1, back formation from uncouth]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

couth
O.E. cuðe "known," pp. of cunnan (see can (v.)) died out as such 16c., but the word was reborn 1896, with a new sense of "cultured, refined," as a back-formation from uncouth (q.v.). The O.E. word forms the first element in the man's proper name Cuthbert, lit. "famous-bright."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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