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scruff

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scruff¹

  • /skɹʌf/ US, UK
  • /skɹɐf/ Australia, New Zealand
  • /skɹʊf/ Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌf

Where it comes from

See scurf.

noun scruffs

  1. countable, uncountable Someone with an untidy appearance. That candidate will never get the job: he's a right scruff.
  2. countable, uncountable Stubble, facial hair (on males).
  3. countable, obsolete, uncountable Crust.
  4. countable, obsolete, uncountable Scurf.

scruff²

  • /skɹʌf/ US, UK
  • /skɹɐf/ Australia, New Zealand
  • /skɹʊf/ Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌf

Where it comes from

1790, from earlier (1787) scuft and dialect scuff, influenced by scruff (“crust”).

Related to North Frisian skuft (“back of the neck of a horse”) and Dutch schoft (“withers (of a horse)”), from Proto-Germanic. Compare also Old Norse skopt (“hair of the head”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐍆𐍄 (skuft, “hair of the head”), Middle High German schopf (German Schopf).

noun scruffs

  1. The loose skin at the back of the neck of some animals.
  2. rare The back of the neck, nape; also scruff of the neck. He grabbed his unruly child by the scruff of the neck, and took him home.

Similar: nape, nucha, nuchal, withers

verb scruffs · scruffing · scruffed

  1. transitive To lift or carry by the scruff. She gently scruffed the kitten who was trying to climb her leg.

Thesaurus

noun

Similar: nape, nucha, nuchal, withers

Translations

Every language

noun Someone with an untidy appearance

Españolzarrapastroso
DeutschSchmutzfink

noun loose skin at the back of the neck of some animals

Españolpescuezo
Portuguêscangote
Русскийзагри́вок zagrívok

noun scruff of the neck

Españolpescuezo
DeutschSchlafittchen, Genick
Русскийшки́рка škírka

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MLA

"scruff." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/scruff. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

scruff. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/scruff

Chicago

"scruff." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/scruff.

BibTeX
@misc{scruff_2026,
  title = {scruff},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/scruff},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}