Etymology

gruff

G2R1U1F4F4

Today it means: having a rough, surly, and harsh demeanor and nature. Full definition →

Dutch grof ← Middle Low German grof ← Old Dutch *grof
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

gruff · adjective, verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*grubaz“coarse, rough”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*grob
  3. Old Saxon · derived from*grof
  4. Old Dutch · derived from*grof
  5. Middle Low German · derived fromgrof
  6. Dutch · borrowed fromgrof
  7. English todaygruff

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”).

gruff · adjective2

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.