Etymologically
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rough

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rough, ruhe, inherited from Old English rūh (“not smooth, coarse; hairy, shaggy”),[2][3] from Proto-West Germanic *rūχ(w)az,[4][2] the source also of Dutch ruig and German rauh.[2][3] It is perhaps related to Sanskrit rūkṣá- “rough”, Lithuanian raukas “wrinkle”[2][4] and Latin ruga “wrinkle”.[3][5] The -gh was once sounded as in Scottish loch, and the form row lingered in dialects.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having a surface with small points or bristles, not smooth, and of cloth coarse: before 1000 in the OED.[6] In Old English it also described undressed hides and uncultivated ground.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of actions, harsh, is from about 1300,[2] of stormy weather from the mid-14th century,[2] and by the late 14th century of turbulent seas, rude language and harsh sounds.[2][4] Crudely made is from the mid-14th century, and of land, hard to cross, from the late 15th century.[2] Approximate is from about 1600, and a rough draft from the 1690s.[2] The noun was rough ground from about 1200 in Etymonline,[2] and in golf from 1901.[6][2] A rowdy person is by 1837.[2] In the rough (1620s) gave diamond in the rough, used of people by 1874.[2] Rough it, to put up with hardship, is from 1768, a sailors' phrase,[2] and rough up, to beat, from 1868.[2] Sleep rough is from 1697.[6]

Timeline

  • a. 1000 – not smooth; coarse.[6]
  • c. 1300 – harsh in action.[2]
  • mid-14th century – stormy.[2]
  • c. 1600 – approximate.[2]
  • 1768 – rough it.[2]
  • 1837 – a rowdy.[2]
  • 1868 – rough up.[2]
  • 1901 – the rough of a golf course.[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Having a surface that is not smooth or even.
  2. Using force or violence; not gentle.
  3. Of weather or the sea, stormy.
  4. Not exact; approximate.
  5. Not finished or polished: a rough draft.
  6. Difficult or unpleasant: a rough time.

Noun

  1. (golf) The long grass at the edge of the fairway.
  2. A first sketch or draft.

Verb

  1. rough up: to treat someone violently.
  2. rough it: to live without the usual comforts.

Word family

  • rougher
  • roughly
  • roughness
  • roughish
  • overrough
  • roughdry
  • roughleg
  • roughneck

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press