Meaning

adjective sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring

adjective having long narrow shallow depressions (as grooves or wrinkles) in the surface

adjective topographically very uneven

originFrom Middle English rugged, roggyd, ruggyd, derived from Old Norse rǫgg (“tuft, shagginess”), equivalent to rug (“rough, woollen material”) + -ed. Compare Old Swedish ruggoter (“wrinkled”), Swedish rugga (“to roughen”), Swedish ruggig (“shaggy”), Icelandic rögg (“shagginess”), Old Norse raggaðr (“tufted”), dialectal Danish raggad (“shaggy”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0