A ruffian is a bully, someone who is violent toward others. Maybe they had a bad childhood, or perhaps they like the sound of people in pain. No matter where they come from, ruffians are best avoided.
- Pronunciation: /'rʌfɪən/
- English description: a cruel and brutal fellow
- Synonyms: bully
- Chinese Translation: 歹徒(dai3 tu2)
- Spanish Translation: el rufián
- ORIGIN: Soccer fans have a reputation for being ruffians. Sure, some are sensitive poetry-reading types, but the ones that get the most attention scream obscenities, break things, and fight each other. Ruffian comes from a Germanic word that literally translates as “scabbiness,” and perhaps ruffians are covered in scabs from all the fights they start. Sometimes a ruffian is a person involved in crime, however, the word is always used to describe someone who’s a cruel, violent jerk.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
- Supporters say that more recording will improve the conduct of both the police and the ruffians they encounter.
- Sometime in that decade, some ruffians cut the unicorn horn off and stole it.
*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com