ruffian
Syllables: ruf·fi·an/ˈɹʌfi.ən/
ruffian noun: a scoundrel, rascal, or unprincipled, deceitful, brutal and unreliable person.
Noun
ruffian (plural ruffians)
- A scoundrel, rascal, or unprincipled, deceitful, brutal and unreliable person.
- What wilt thou on thy death-bed play the Ruffian?1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- It was at Count Siloszech's. He'd heard her sing in the streets, with a tall, black-bearded ruffian, who accompanied her on a guitar, and a little fiddling gypsy fellow. She was a handsome woman, with hair down to her knees, but stupid as an owl.1894, George du Maurier, “Part Fifth: Little Billee: An Interlude”, in Trilby: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 259
- A pimp; a pander.
- Synonyms:
- abbot, bludger, bully, cock-bawd, dalaal, fishmonger, flashman, fleshmonger, hoon, hustler
- A lover; a paramour.
- He [her husband] is no sooner abroad than she is instantly at home, revelling with her ruffians.1621, John Reynolds, The Triumphs of God's Revenge against the crying and execrable Sinne of Murther
Verb
ruffian (third-person singular simple present ruffians, present participle ruffianing, simple past and past participle ruffianed)
- To play the ruffian; to rage; to raise tumult.
- Methinks the wind does speak aloud at land; A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements. If it hath ruffianed so upon the sea.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
Adjective
ruffian (comparative more ruffian, superlative most ruffian)
- Brutal, cruel, ruffianlike.
- ruffian rage
ruffian meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
ruffian in Tamil
- கொடியன், போக்கிரி, முரடன், மூர்க்கன்
ruffian in Urdu
- غنڈا, خبیث
ruffian in Bengali
- দুর্বৃত্ত, হিংস্র ব্যক্তি
ruffian in Malayalam
- lout, thug, hooligan
- തെമ്മാടി, ദുഷ്ടൻ, വിഷകൃമി, പോക്കിരി, തിമിരൻ, ഘാതകൻ
More languagesFewer languages
- ruffian in Kannada
- ಘಾತುಕ, ಕಿರಾತ, ಕೊಲೆಪಾತಕ, ಹಿಂಸಕ
Examples of ruffian in a sentence
- I simply refuse to do business with such ruffians.
- Voetsek you skelems!” The young ruffians parted to reveal the old Zulu man.
- With woman steps she followed: the ruffian and his strolling mort.
Synonyms of ruffian
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of ruffian
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ruffians |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ruffians |
| present participle | ruffianing |
| past participle | ruffianed |
| past | ruffianed |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more ruffian |
| superlative | most ruffian |
Origin of ruffian
From Middle French rufian, from Italian ruffiano (“pimp”).
Words formed from ruffian
Questions about ruffian
- What does ruffian mean?
- Ruffian means a scoundrel, rascal, or unprincipled, deceitful, brutal and unreliable person.
- What is ruffian in Tamil?
- Ruffian in Tamil is கொடியன், போக்கிரி, முரடன். See Ruffian meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is ruffian?
- Ruffian can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce ruffian?
- Ruffian is pronounced /ˈɹʌfi.ən/.
- What is the plural of ruffian?
- The plural of ruffian is ruffians.
Words near ruffian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ruffian (page history and authors); ruffian (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ruffian (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ruffian (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ruffian (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); ruffian (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ruffian.wav.
Cite this entry: “ruffian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ruffian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.