What does bawdier mean?
Bawdier is the comparative form of the adjective bawdy, meaning more humorously indecent or coarsely suggestive about sexual matters. It describes speech, writing, jokes, songs, or performances that lean further into ribald, earthy comedy — the kind of material that raises eyebrows while still drawing laughs. The word carries a connotation of playful vulgarity rather than outright obscenity: a bawdier limerick, a bawdier scene in a play, or a bawdier after-dinner story is one that is noticeably more risqué than its counterparts. English speakers most often use it in comparisons, whether contrasting censored and uncensored versions of a work, tracing how a comedian's act evolved, or describing how a conversation loosened up over the course of an evening. Rooted in the older noun bawd, which referred to a person who procured others for prostitution, the term has long since softened into a mostly affectionate label for low, lusty humour.
adjective (comparative form of 'bawdy')Comparative of bawdy: more bawdy — containing or characterized by humorous, indecent references to sex; more coarsely or lewdly comic than something else.
- (of speech, writing, or entertainment) More humorously indecent or sexually coarse than something else.
"The comedian's later routines grew steadily bawdier as his audience matured with him."
"The film's director toned down the script, cutting the bawdier scenes to secure a family-friendly rating."
"After a few drinks, his stories became progressively bawdier, much to the delight of his friends."
Shakespeare's plays are full of bawdy double entendres — and the bawdier passages were often the ones the groundlings at the Globe laughed hardest at.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bawdier
The adjective bawdy derives from bawd, a Middle English word for a procurer or keeper of a brothel, borrowed from Old French baud, itself likely of Germanic origin. From its original sense relating to prostitution and sexual licence, bawdy came by extension to describe anything lewdly humorous. The comparative bawdier follows the regular English pattern for two-syllable adjectives ending in -y, and related forms include bawdry and bawdy-house.
Related word forms
How bawdier is actually used
Bawdy and its forms carry a connotation of earthy, often good-humoured indecency rather than genuinely offensive obscenity. The comparative is common when contrasting versions of a text, performances by a comedian, or stages of an evening's entertainment. Register is informal to neutral; it would be unusual in formal academic prose except in literary criticism.
Easily confused with bawdier
'Bawdier' means more lewdly humorous, while a 'boulder' is a large rock — the two share only a loose visual similarity in spelling.
'Broader' means wider or more extensive in scope, whereas 'bawdier' specifically refers to greater sexual coarseness or indecency.