Link Centre Dictionary

gruff

UK/ɡɹʊf/ US/ɡɹʌf/ uncommon british

adjective

1.

brusque and surly and forbidding

  • “crusty remarks”
  • “a crusty old man”
  • “his curmudgeonly temper”
  • “gruff manner”
  • “a gruff reply”
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2.

dark and gloomy

  • “a tenebrous cave”
Synonyms
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Origin

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”).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.