different between rough vs ruffian

English

Alternative forms

• ruff (colloquial)

Etymology

From Middle English rough, rogh, ro?e, row, rou, ru, ru?, ruh, from Old English r?g, r?h, from Proto-Germanic *r?haz. Cognate with Scots ruch, rouch (“rough”), Saterland Frisian ruuch, rouch (“rough”), West Frisian rûch (“rough”), Low German ruuch (“rough”), Dutch ruig (“rough”), German rau(h) (“rough”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /??f/
• Rhymes: -?f
• Homophone: ruff

Adjective

rough (comparative rougher, superlative roughest)

1. Not smooth; uneven.
   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 1

     The rock was one of those tremendously solid brown, or rather black, rocks which emerge from the sand like something primitive. Rough with crinkled limpet shells and sparsely strewn with locks of dry seaweed, a small boy has to stretch his legs far apart, and indeed to feel rather heroic, before he gets to the top.

2. Approximate; hasty or careless; not finished.

3. Turbulent.
   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xii:

     With my mother's permission and blessings, I set off exultantly for Bombay, leaving my wife with a baby of a few months. But on arrival there, friends told my brother that the Indian Ocean was rough in June and July, and as this was my first voyage, I should not be allowed to sail until November.

4. Difficult; trying.

5. Crude; unrefined

6. Violent; not careful or subtle

7. Loud and hoarse; offensive to the ear; harsh; grating.

   • But most by Numbers judge a Poet's song,
     And smooth or rough, with them

8. Not polished; uncut; said of a gem.

9. Harsh-tasting.

10. (chiefly Britain, colloquial, slang) Somewhat ill; sick
11. (chiefly Britain, colloquial, slang) Unwell due to alcohol; hungover

Antonyms

• smooth

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

rough (plural roughs)

1. The unmowed part of a golf course.
2. A rude fellow; a coarse bully; a rowdy.
3. (cricket) A scuffed and roughened area of the pitch, where the bowler's feet fall, used as a target by spin bowlers because of its unpredictable bounce.
4. The raw material from which faceted or cabochon gems are created.
5. A quick sketch, similar to a thumbnail but larger and more detailed, used for artistic brainstorming.
6. (obsolete) Boisterous weather.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fletcher to this entry?)

7. A piece inserted in a horseshoe to keep the animal from slipping.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

rough (third-person singular simple present roughs, present participle roughing, simple past and past participle roughed)

1. To create in an approximate form.

2. (ice hockey) To commit the offense of roughing, i.e. to punch another player.
3. To render rough; to roughen.
4. To break in (a horse, etc.), especially for military purposes.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Crabb to this entry?)

5. To endure primitive conditions.
6. (transitive) To roughen a horse's shoes to keep the animal from slipping.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

rough (comparative more rough, superlative most rough)

1. In a rough manner; rudely; roughly.

Derived terms

• sleep rough

English

Etymology

From Middle French rufian, from Italian ruffiano (“pimp”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???fi.?n/
• Hyphenation: ruf?fi?an

Noun

ruffian (plural ruffians)

1. A scoundrel, rascal, or unprincipled, deceitful, brutal and unreliable person.

   Synonyms: rogue, scamp; see also Thesaurus:troublemaker
2. (obsolete) A pimp; a pander.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pimp

3. (obsolete) A lover; a paramour.
   • 1621, John Reynolds, The Triumphs of God's Revenge against the crying and execrable Sinne of Murther

     He [her husband] is no sooner abroad than she is instantly at home, revelling with her ruffians.

Translations

Verb

ruffian (third-person singular simple present ruffians, present participle ruffianing, simple past and past participle ruffianed)

1. To play the ruffian; to rage; to raise tumult.
   • 1603, Shakespeare, Othello, Act II, Scene I

     Methinks the wind does speak aloud at land; A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements. If it hath ruffianed so upon the sea.

Adjective

ruffian (comparative more ruffian, superlative most ruffian)

1. Brutal; cruel; savagely boisterous; murderous.

   ruffian rage

Anagrams

• funfair

French

Noun

ruffian m (plural ruffians)

1. Alternative spelling of rufian
   • 1943, Jean Ray, Malpertuis, 1978 ed., p. 8

     Il n'y a que la fortune pour faire d'un ruffian un honnête homme, soumis aux lois humaines.

Further reading

• “ruffian” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).