tuff
/tʌf/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.99 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A light porous rock, now especially a rock composed of compacted volcanic ash varying in size from fine sand to coarse gravel.
Countable; Uncountable
adj
Eye dialect spelling of tough.
adj
Impressive, amazing, awesome, cool.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "This is what makes an ignimbrite; the general term for this kind of volcaniclastic rock is ‘tuff’."
- "Tuff Stuff teaches that while life may go smoothly most of the time, ..."
- "… yet never to make us so strong as the strongest of Men, whose Sinnews are tuffer, and Bones stronger, and Joints closer, and Flesh firmer, than ours are …"
- "It was rave reviewed in the Caribbean Times as 'the ruffest, tuffest and the boo-yacka of all modern gangster novels'."
- "TUFF METER"
- "Its Tuff-n-Tiny USB flash drive is about the size of a thumbnail. … The company insists that the "tuff" part of the name is well-earned for being waterproof, dustproof and you can drive a car over it."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂-der. Proto-Italic *tūβosder. Oscanbor.? Latin tōfusder. Italian tufobor. French tufbor. English tuff From French tuffe, tuf, from Italian tufo, from Latin tōfus. Doublet of tufa.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: tuffe,tuf, tufo, tōfus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tʌf/
- British English: /tʌf/
Usage
Inflected Forms
tuffs (plural)
tuffer (comparative)
more tuff (comparative)
tuffest (superlative)
most tuff (superlative)