Dude

‘Dude’ is American slang and now generally refers to a guy or a fellow, as in ‘a cool dude’, a term of approbation, which became popular surfer slang in the 1960s. The word first appeared in print c. 1876 but not as a term of approbation. It originally referred to a dandy or a fastidious male dresser and was generally used in the American West to denigrate Easterners. The origin is unknown but it may be connected to duds, as in ‘clothes’ or the Lower German dudenkop meaning ‘stupid head’ or ‘fool’.