gruff

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

gruff [gruff gruffer gruffest] BrE [ɡrʌf] NAmE [ɡrʌf] adjective
1. (of a voice)deep and rough, and often sounding unfriendly
2. (of a person's behaviour)unfriendly and impatient
•Beneath his gruff exterior, he's really very kind-hearted.
Derived Word: ↑gruffly

Word Origin:
late 15th cent. (in the sense ‘coarse-grained’): from Flemish and Dutch grof ‘coarse, rude’, of West Germanic origin.

Example Bank:
•Beneath his gruff exterior, he's really very kind-hearted.

• Từ đồng nghĩa / Synonyms:
  hoarse, husky, crusty, curmudgeonly, ill-humored, ill-humoured