Nudity

Nudity or nakedness is the state of wearing no clothing. It is sometimes used to refer to wearing significantly less clothing than expected by the conventions of a particular culture and situation, and in particular exposing the bare skin of intimate parts.

Terminology

Although nude and naked have the same objective meaning (i.e. not covered by clothing) and a common origin, they have differing subjective connotations, which partly match their differing etymologies ("nude" originally had a meaning of "plain, bare, unadorned" in a broader sense when introduced into English from Latin "nudus", while "naked" derives from the common early English word for "unclothed" that is cognate with "nudus"). Some consider one term more appropriate than the other. The book Nude, Naked, Stripped suggests that these three terms define a continuum ranging from artistic or tasteful absence of clothing by choice at one end, and a forced or mandatory condition of being without clothes (e.g. strip search) at the other.

Related Topics:
Cognate - Art - Strip search

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• As the concept nudity often refers more to perception by the observer than the mere description whether someone's body is covered or not, there can be a grey area. Thus, while someone exposing 'private parts' is often called 'naked' regardless of garments on other body parts (indeed, an 'undressed' state is often considered even more sexy than full nudity) hence the terms half-naked and, a fortiori, near-naked refer to a body that is not completely exposed, but showing more than is customary or considered quite acceptable, at least in a given context. Thus even wearing boxer shorts, sufficient to guard the modesty of a shooto fighter, is described as near-naked in Japan because the kimono-type uniform associated with traditional martial arts is missing. Half-naked is also used for a degree of skin exposure that is not offensive (as no delicate zone is shown) but still barer than 'fully dressed', such as a man in bare torse.
• As the exposure of specific, usually intimate, skin zones suffices to be offensive and/or sensual, it is not surprising that specific terms are commonly used for such cases. More specifically :
• Terms like bare-butt and bare-arse or kaalgat in Afrikaans (literally 'bald (arse-)hole', also an illustration that one's own dense body hair is considered to undo or at least mitigate nudity; animal furs are probably the oldest form of warm clothing focus only on the buttocks, often crucial for spanking as well as in a sexual context (including a fecal fetish)
• Terms like bare balls and bullock-naked are used to explicitly emphasize the naked exposure of the most private parts, often as a dysphemism for total male nudity, even in a context where another part of the anatomy is functionally more relevant, e.g. being chased by someone intending to whip the backside when he catches the naked runaway
• The term topless is sometimes used—especially in reference to females—to describe the lack of clothing covering the breasts
• As a counterpart, some expressions explicitly express total nudity. A special case is stark naked, or in British English starkers, as these terms were erroneously changed from 'start naked' (start is an old Germanic word for tail, as above fixating on the ) to 'stark', an old Germanic word meaning 'strong' but used as 'utter(ly)'. Euphemisms may be used, such as birthday suit and au naturel (French for 'in the natural state') or the Dutch words spiernaakt ('muscle naked', since one sees every muscle under bare skin) and poedelnaakt (refers to the often ridiculed shaving of poodle dog breeds)