au naturel

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au naturel

/əʊ næt͡ʃʊˈɹɛl/ UK
/-tjʊ-/ UK
/ˌoʊ ˌnætəˈɹɛl/ US
[-ɾə-] US
/-t͡ʃə-/ US

Rhymes with -ɛl

Where it comes from

Unadapted borrowing from French au naturel (“in the natural state; cooked plainly”), from au (“at the; in the; to the”) + naturel (“natural”) (ultimately borrowed from Latin nātūrālis (“of or relating to nature”), from nātūra (“natural world, nature”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship)). Nātūra is derived from nāscor (“to be born; to grow, spring forth”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”)) + -tūra (suffix forming action nouns denoting activities or their results).

adjective

not comparable Of a person: not wearing makeup and with one's natural hair colour. This is my au naturel look. How do you like it?
Similar: all-natural
not comparable Of a person (especially a woman): having untrimmed pubic hair. She prefers to keep her private parts au naturel.
not comparable Of food: prepared or served raw or very simply cooked. [F]ew of the French travellers who have lately visited our Isle appear to have been much gratified with their trip. They in general speak with great contempt of our national partiality for roast beef and potatoes "au naturel."
humorous, not comparable, sometimes Of a person: in a state of not wearing clothes; in the nude, naked. Bella was au naturel for that photo session.
Similar: au naturel, bare, bare-ass, bare-assed, bare-bottomed, bare-bum, bare-butt, barefoot all over, bare naked, bareskin, bare-skinned, Billy bollocks

adverb

not comparable Of the action of a person: in a manner without makeup and with one's natural hair colour. Well, few of us are blessed with flawless complexions such as yours, so if you want to go au naturel, that's fine by me.
not comparable Of the action of a person (especially a woman): in a manner with untrimmed pubic hair.
not comparable Of the preparation or serving of food: in a raw or very simply cooked manner. Our chef insists on preparing this cut au naturel.
humorous, not comparable, sometimes Of the action of a person: in a naked manner; without clothes; in the nude, nakedly. Bella loved posing au naturel for the artist.

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Cite this

MLA

"au naturel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/au%20naturel. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

au naturel. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/au%20naturel

Chicago

"au naturel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/au%20naturel.

BibTeX

@misc{au_naturel_2026,
  title = {au naturel},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/au%20naturel},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}