gruff

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness or emotion

   Gruff voices.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Gruff was borrowed in late Middle English from Dutch grof, meaning “coarse” or “rude.”

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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