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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gruff.

having a rough, surly, and harsh demeanor and nature.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ɡɹʌf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡɹɐf/Australia, New-Zealand/ɡɹʊf/Northern-England

  1. having a rough, surly, and harsh demeanor and nature.

  2. hoarse-voiced.

    a gruff woman

  3. hoarse.

    a gruff voice
Where this word comes from

16th century, from Dutch grof and/or Middle Low German grof (both “rough, coarse, rude”), from Old Dutch *grof or Old Saxon *grof, both from Proto-West Germanic *grob, from Proto-Germanic *grubaz (“coarse, rough”), possibly from an earlier *gahrubaz and then related with *hreubaz (“scabby, rough, scrubby”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian groaf (“rough, coarse, crude”), West Frisian grof (“rough, coarse, crude”), Low German groff (“rough, coarse, crude”), German grob (“rough, coarse, crude”), Swedish grov (“rough, coarse, crude”).

verb/ɡɹʌf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡɹɐf/Australia, New-Zealand/ɡɹʊf/Northern-England

  1. To speak gruffly.

Where this word comes from

16th century, from Dutch grof and/or Middle Low German grof (both “rough, coarse, rude”), from Old Dutch *grof or Old Saxon *grof, both from Proto-West Germanic *grob, from Proto-Germanic *grubaz (“coarse, rough”), possibly from an earlier *gahrubaz and then related with *hreubaz (“scabby, rough, scrubby”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian groaf (“rough, coarse, crude”), West Frisian grof (“rough, coarse, crude”), Low German groff (“rough, coarse, crude”), German grob (“rough, coarse, crude”), Swedish grov (“rough, coarse, crude”).

adj/ɡɹʌf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡɹɐf/Australia, New-Zealand/ɡɹʊf/Northern-England

  1. Of goods: bulky.

    British · India
Where this word comes from

Perhaps related to Dutch grof (“rough, coarse”).

noun/ɡɹʌf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡɹɐf/Australia, New-Zealand/ɡɹʊf/Northern-England

  1. Alternative spelling of grough (“gully in a moor”).

    alt-of · alternative
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.