Meaning

noun someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing

noun an aggressive and violent young criminal

noun a cruel and brutal fellow

originFrom Middle English tough, towgh, tou, toȝ, from Old English tōh (“tough, tenacious, holding fast together; pliant; sticky, glutinous, clammy”), from Proto-West Germanic *tą̄h(ī), from Proto-Germanic *tanhuz (“fitting; clinging; tenacious; tough”), from *tinganą (“to press upon, throng”), from Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- (“to bite”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian toai (“tough”), Bavarian…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0