tough

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʌf/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tough, also toge and togh,^[2][3] inherited from Old English tōh (“strong and firm in texture; tenacious”),^[4][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *tanhuz,^[4][2][5] which Watkins traces to Proto-Indo-European *denk- (“to bite”), on the notion of holding fast.^[4] It is cognate with Dutch taai and German zäh,^[4][2] and Barnhart relates it to tongs.^[2] The spelling is like that of rough.^[4][2] It is related to taut.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of close, cohesive texture, bending without breaking: about 700.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

“Strong, powerful”, and of battles “stiff, severe”, are from about 1200.^[4][7] Physical endurance is from about 1300,^[4][7] and “hard to chew” from the early 14th century.^[4] The figurative sense “steadfast, hard to influence” is from about 1400,^[2][7] “stubborn, hardened” from 1603,^[2] and “hard to do, laborious” from 1619.^[2][7] The noun, a street ruffian, is American English from 1866,^[4][2] and tough it, “to endure”, from 1830.^[4] Of hard circumstances, American colloquial use is by 1890, tough luck by 1912, and tough guy from 1901.^[4] Tough as old boots is from the mid-19th century, earlier tough as leather,^[6] and tough love is American from the 1960s.^[6] “Uncompromising, strict”, as in tough on crime, is from 1906.^[7] Toughen is from 1582.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 700 – tenacious, firm in texture.^[2][7]
• c. 1200 – strong; severe.^[4]
• c. 1400 – steadfast, hard to influence.^[2]
• 1619 – hard to do.^[2][7]
• 1830 – tough it.^[4]
• 1866 – noun, a ruffian.^[4][2]
• 1906 – uncompromising.^[7]
• 1960s – tough love.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Strong and resilient; able to bear strain without breaking.
2. Hard to cut or chew.
3. Physically or mentally hardy; able to endure hardship.
4. Difficult to do or deal with: a tough question.
5. Strict or uncompromising: tough on crime.
6. Rough or violent; aggressive.
7. (informal) Unfortunate: tough luck.

Noun

1. A rough, violent person; a thug.

Verb

1. tough it out: to endure a hardship.

Word family

• toughly
• toughness
• untough
• supertough
• tough-minded
• toughen
• toughie
• toughish

Related words

• tongs
• taut
• rough

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press