mud

• enPR: mŭd, IPA^(key): /mʌd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌd
• Homophone: MUD

From Middle English mud, mudde, mode, probably a borrowing from Middle Dutch mod, modde or Middle Low German mudde, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *mud-, *mudra- (“mud”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *mū-, *mew- (“moist”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Mudde (“mud”), Middle High German mot (“mud”), Swedish modd (“slush”). Compare also suffixed variants West Frisian modder (“mud”), Dutch modder (“mud”), German Low German Mudder (“mud”), German Moder (“moldiness, mildew, decay”), English mother (“vinegar-forming sediment in alcohol”), Danish mudder (“mud”).

Alternative etymology suggests the Proto-Germanic word is possibly borrowed from a Uralic language (compare e.g. Finnish muta (“mud”), Northern Sami mođđi (“mud”), from Proto-Uralic *muďa).[1]

mud (countable and uncountable, plural muds)

1. A mixture of water and soil or fine grained sediment.
2. A plaster-like mixture used to texture or smooth drywall.
3. (construction industry slang) Wet concrete as it is being mixed, delivered and poured.
4. (figuratively) Willfully abusive, even slanderous remarks or claims, notably between political opponents.

   The campaign issues got lost in all the mud from both parties.

5. (slang) Money, dough, especially when proceeding from dirty business.
6. (gay sex, slang) Stool that is exposed as a result of anal sex.
7. (geology) A particle less than 62.5 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale
8. (slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) A black person.
   • 2013, Bill Pezza, Homegrown:

     That includes muds, spics, kikes and niggers.

   • 2015, Christian Picciolini, Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead:

     How could they be so gullible to think peace and love could be achieved with the muds burning down our cities […]

9. Drilling fluid.
10. (slang, originally US) Coffee.
11. (slang) Opium.
    • 1951 December 20, William S. Burroughs, “To Allen Ginsberg”, in Oliver Harris, editor, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, published 1993, →ISBN, page 98:

      Of course, I take a bang or some mud in coffee now and then, and I pick up on gage right smart.

    • [1977 [1953], William S. Burroughs, edited by Allen Ginsberg, Junky, Penguin Books, →ISBN, Glossary, page 153:

      Brown Stuff, or Mud . . . Opium]

12. (slang) Heroin.

• muddle

mud (third-person singular simple present muds, present participle mudding, simple past and past participle mudded)

1. (transitive) To make muddy or dirty; to apply mud to (something).
2. (transitive) To make turbid.
3. (intransitive) To go under the mud, as an eel does.

From Dutch mud, from West Germanic, from Latin modius. Doublet of modius and muid.

mud (plural muds or mudden)

1. (historical) A traditional Dutch unit of dry measure of variable size, frequently about 3 bushels.
2. (historical) A traditional Dutch unit of land area, vaguely reckoned as the amount of land required to sow a mud of seed.
3. (historical) A kind of box traditionally used in the Netherlands for measuring muds.

• Dutch bushel, bushel, muid (Dutch contexts)

From MUD.

mud (third-person singular simple present muds, present participle mudding, simple past and past participle mudded)

1. (intransitive, Internet) To participate in a MUD or multi-user dungeon.
   • 1997, Philip Agre, Douglas Schuler, Reinventing technology, rediscovering community, page 153:

     Wizards, in general, have a very different experience of mudding than other players. Because of their palpable and extensive extra powers over other players, and because of their special role in MUD society, they are frequently treated differently […]

• Jonathon Green (2024) “mud n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang

• DMU, UMD, dum

mud

1. mute

• mudde

Ultimately from Latin modius (“bushel”).

• Audio

  (file)

mud n (plural mudden, diminutive mudje n or muddeken n)

1. An old measure of volume, varying in content over time and regions; nowadays usually 1 hectoliter

   Een mud is zo'n 70 kilo aardappelen

   One mud is about 70 kg of potatoes

2. A wooden container having such content; again used as measure for bulk wares sold in it, such as cereals
3. A land measure, presumably supposedly the area sown with that much seed
4. A small measure for liquids, about 1 deciliter

• mudderecht n
• mudszak m
• korenmud n

mud

1. Romanization of 𒄷𒄭 (mud)

• IPA^(key): [mud]

mud

1. mouth

From Middle Welsh mut, from Proto-Brythonic *mʉd, from Latin mūtus.

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /mɨːd/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /miːd/
• Rhymes: -ɨːd

mud (feminine singular mud, plural mudion, not comparable)

1. mute, dumb, silent (unable or unwilling to speak)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “mud”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies