COUTH

PRONUNCIATION: (kooth)

MEANING: adjective: Cultured; refined; sophisticated.
noun: Refinement; sophistication.

ETYMOLOGY: Back-formation from uncouth, from Old English uncuth (unknown), from un- (not) + cuth (known), past participle of cunnan (to know, to be able). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know), which also gave us know, recognize, acquaint, ignore, diagnosis, notice, normal, anagnorisis, prosopagnosia, agnosia , cognize, gnomon, kenning, and unco. Earliest documented use: 1896. Uncouth is from 1732.
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CORUTH - what sings Hallelujah! in Handel's Methiah

HOUTH - where the Lispers live

COUTY - a poorly-defined, intermediate-sized political region, somewhere between a city and a county