Ribald means coarsely humorous about sex. Ribald jokes, ribald laughter, a ribald song.
It is cheerful rather than nasty, which is the distinction from obscene — ribald humour is rude and good-natured. Chaucer is the standard example in English. Note ribaldry; and that the Old French ribaud meant a rogue or a scoundrel, from a verb about licentiousness.
1adjectiveribaldCoarsely humorous about sex.
“The old soldiers swapped ribald jokes over their beer.”
ribald is a quality of coarse humour.
Old French ribaud means a rogue, from riber, to be licentious, from a Frankish verb. Ribaldry comes from the same root.
Old French
ribaud
Middle English
ribald
English, today
ribald
Built from
From Middle English ribald, from Old French ribaud, ribauld (“rogue, scoundrel”) (> English ribaud), from Old French riber (“to be licentious”), from Frankish rīban (“to copulate, be in heat”) literally “to rub”, from Proto-Germanic wrībaną (“to turn, twist, writhe”), from Proto-Indo-European werp-, werb- (“to turn, twist”) + Old French -aud, from Frankish -wald. Related to Old High German rīban (“to rub”), German reiben (“to rub”), Dutch wrijven (“to rub”). Compare also Old High German hrība (“prostitute”). See also English wrap.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA