bawdy

Bawdy is an English adjective and noun referring to humor, language, or content that deals with sexual matters in a coarse, indecent, or obscene way. Used to describe jokes, songs, verse, or performances that rely on sexual innuendo or explicit references rather than refined humor. The term can also describe a genre or atmosphere characterized by raucous merriment and physical farce.

Origin: The word derives from the idea of a bawd—a person who procures prostitutes—through which bawdy came to mean indecent or obscene. In later usage, it became a neutral descriptive term in some eras for lively, ribald humor, though still carrying pejorative or morally charged connotations in many contexts.

Usage and examples: In literature and theater, bawdy humor appears in Elizabethan and Restoration works; Shakespeare, for example, includes bawdy innuendos and punchlines. Plays often feature bawdy songs or comic tricks. Bawdy songs are a tradition in folk and popular music as well. A bawdy house is a historical term for a brothel, while bawdry can refer to obscene material.

Cultural context: Attitudes toward bawdy content have varied by time and place, with moralists condemning it as corrupting and other artists defending it as a natural form of humor and social commentary. In modern use, bawdy humor remains a common, if occasionally controversial, element of entertainment and literature.

See also: bawd, bawdy house, bawdry, bawdy song, ribaldry.