different between scruff vs scuff

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk??f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

See scurf.

Noun

scruff (countable and uncountable, plural scruffs)

1. Someone with an untidy appearance.

2. Stubble, facial hair (on males).
3. (obsolete) Crust.
4. (obsolete) Scurf.

Derived terms

• scruffy

Translations

Etymology 2

1790, from earlier (1787) scuft, influenced by scruff (“crust”). Related to North Frisian skuft (“back of the neck of a horse”) and Dutch schoft (“withers (of a horse)”), from Proto-Germanic. Compare also Old Norse skopt (“hair of the head”), Gothic ???????????????????? (skuft, “hair of the head”), Middle High German schopf (German Schopf).

Noun

scruff (plural scruffs)

1. The loose skin at the back of the neck of some animals.
2. (rare) The back of the neck, nape; also scruff of the neck.

   He grabbed his unruly child by the scruff of the neck, and took him home.

Usage notes

Strictly refers to the loose skin at the back of the neck – found on many mammals, though not humans – rather than the back of the neck itself. While this distinction is not always observed, scruff is used almost exclusively in the phrase “to grab [someone/something] by the scruff [of the neck]”.

Synonyms

• nape
• nucha, nuchal (medical)
• withers (of a horse)

Translations

Verb

scruff (third-person singular simple present scruffs, present participle scruffing, simple past and past participle scruffed)

1. To lift or carry by the scruff.

See also

• scuff

References

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk?f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

From Scots scuff (“to touch lightly, graze, hit”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old Norse skúfa (“to shove, push aside”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuban? (“to shove”). Or, perhaps imitative. More at English shove.

Verb

scuff (third-person singular simple present scuffs, present participle scuffing, simple past and past participle scuffed)

1. To scrape the feet while walking.
2. To hit lightly, to brush against.
3. To mishit (a shot on a ball) due to poor contact with the ball.

Derived terms

• scuff mark

Related terms

• scuffle

Translations

Noun

scuff (plural scuffs)

1. (sometimes attributive) A mark left by scuffing or scraping.

   Someone left scuff marks in the sand.

   • 2015, Charles W. Jones, Hydrangeas on the Lanai

     He flung his shoes across the room, their soles leaving black scuffs on the dingy wall.

Related terms

• scuffed

Translations

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Etymology 2

Noun

scuff (plural scuffs)

1. A scurf; a scale.
2. The back part of the neck; the scruff.
   • 1858, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do with It?

     One of the biggest and most redoubted of the Black Family was now in that seat of dignity, and, refusing surlily to yield it at Jasper's rude summons, was seized by the scuff of the neck, and literally hurled on the table in front.

See also

• scoff
• scruff

Anagrams

• Cuffs, cuffs