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brutish

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Etymology and origin of the English word brutish

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1513 before 1513, Fabyan's New Cronycles More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origin
Latin brūtus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin brūtus
English brute
English brutish
From the same root
Latin brutalis ← brūtus

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈbɹuːt.ɪʃ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English brute + -ish.[2][3][4][5][6] The base is from Old French brut (“coarse, raw”),[4][2] from Latin brūtus (“heavy, dull, irrational”).[4][2] Etymonline reports that the Latin adjective is said to be an Oscan word, from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *gwere- (“heavy”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rough, savage, brutal: before 1513, in Fabyan's New Cronycles of Englande & Fraunce.[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to about 1513,[5] Dictionary.com dates the word 1485 to 1495 and the Shorter Oxford to the late 15th century,[6][3] and Etymonline starts it only in the 1530s.[4]

Semantic evolution

After the early sense "savage", it is recorded in 1534, in Thomas More, for what belongs to animals as opposed to humans.[2][4] From 1555 it was used of people lacking intelligence or reason,[2][4] and since 1567 of those without control over their appetites, sensual or furious.[2][7] Johnson (1755) set out four senses: bestial; rough, savage, ferocious; gross, carnal; and ignorant, uncivilized.[8] A learned use, after brūtum fulmen, described thunder as striking blindly or at random, from 1586 to 1871.[2][7] Today Collins groups the human senses as coarse, cruel and stupid.[9]

Timeline

  • before 1513 – rough, savage, brutal (obsolete by 1773).[2]
  • 1534 – of or belonging to animals as opposed to humans.[2][4]
  • 1555 – lacking intelligence or reason; uncultured, stupid.[2][4]
  • 1567 – lacking control over the appetites; sensual, furious.[2][7]
  • 1586 – of thunder, striking blindly (obsolete by 1871).[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or like animals as opposed to humans; bestial.[9][5][2]
  2. Coarse and cruel: the brutish conditions of the prison camp.[9][5]
  3. Showing little intelligence or reason; stupid.[9][5][2]
  4. Grossly sensual, without any delicacy.[5][2]
  5. (obsolete, 1586–1871) Of a thunderbolt, striking blindly; random.[2][3]

Word family

  • brutishly
  • brutishness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Brutish.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/brutish. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·