Meaning

adjective brusque and surly and forbidding

adjective deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness or emotion; ; ; ; - Virgil Thomson

origin16th century, from Dutch grof and/or Middle Low German grof (both “rough, coarse, rude”), from Old Dutch *grof or Old Saxon *grof, both from Proto-West Germanic *grob, from Proto-Germanic *grubaz (“coarse, rough”), possibly from an earlier *gahrubaz and then related with *hreubaz (“scabby, rough, scrubby”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian groaf (“rough, coarse, crude”), West Frisian grof (“rough,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0