Where does “gaudy” come from?

Gaudy comes from English gaud plus the suffix -y, ultimately from Latin gaudere meaning to rejoice, with formative elements from Middle French -ie and Latin -ia, -ivus, and -kos.

gaudy (English): very showy or ornamented, now especially when...

Definitions

  1. very showy or ornamented, now especially when...

Ancestry of “gaudy”, step by step

gaudy traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Latin gaudium

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latingaudiumjoy, delight
2Latin-iumSuffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes...
3Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
4Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
5Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

via Middle English gaudi

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishgaudijest, trick
2Old Frenchgaudie—
3Medieval Latingaudia—

Words derived from “gaudy”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →Every word from Latin -ium →Every word from Latin -ius →