''Dude'' is

American slang American slang is slang that is common in, or particular to, the United States. The term can refer specifically to: Language *California slang, slang used in California English, or which originates in California *Hawaiian Pidgin, English-based C ...

for an individual, typically male. From the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a male person who dressed in an extremely fashionable manner (a

dandy A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle des ...

) or a conspicuous citified person who was visiting a rural location, a "

city slicker {{wiktionarypar, city slicker City slicker is an idiomatic expression for someone accustomed to a city or urban lifestyle and unsuited to life in the country. The term was typically used as a term of derision by rural Americans and Canadians who ...

". In the 1960s, dude evolved to mean any male person, a meaning that slipped into mainstream American slang in the 1970s. Current slang retains at least some use of all three of these common meanings.

History

The term "dude" may have derived from the 18th-century word "doodle", as in "Yankee Doodle Dandy". In the popular press of the 1880s and 1890s, "dude" was a new word for "

"—an "extremely well-dressed male", a man who paid particular importance to his appearance. The

café society Café society was the description of the "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafés and restaurants in New York, Paris and London beginning in the late 19th century. Maury Henry Biddle Paul is credited with ...

and

Bright Young Things __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of Bohemianism, Bohemian young Aristocracy (class), aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London. They threw flamboyant costume party, f ...

of the late 1800s and early 1900s were populated with dudes. Young men of leisure vied to show off their wardrobes. The best known of this type is probably

Evander Berry Wall Evander Berry Wall (January 14, 1861 – May 4, 1940) was a New York City socialite and later an American expatriate in France during the Belle Époque and beyond. He was famous for his extravagantly refined look and was crowned "King of the Du ...

, who was dubbed "King of the Dudes" in 1880s New York and maintained a reputation for

sartorial {{Short pages monitor