tuff

• IPA^(key): /tʌf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌf
• Homophones: tough, Tuff

From French tuffe, tuf, from Italian tufo, from Latin tōfus. Doublet of tufa.

tuff (countable and uncountable, plural tuffs)

1. (geology) A light porous rock, now especially a rock composed of compacted volcanic ash varying in size from fine sand to coarse gravel.

   Synonym: tufa

   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 9n:

     This is what makes an ignimbrite; the general term for this kind of volcaniclastic rock is ‘tuff’.

Eye dialect of tough.

tuff (comparative tuffer or more tuff, superlative tuffest or most tuff)

1. Eye dialect spelling of tough.
   • 1980, Joy Wilt Berry, Ernie Hergenroeder, Tuff Stuff: A Children's Book about Trauma‎^[1], Educational Products Division, Word, Inc., →ISBN:

     Tuff Stuff teaches that while life may go smoothly most of the time, ...

   • 2000, Margaret Cavendish, “Preface to the Reader (1655)”, in Sylvia Bowerbank, Sara Mendelson, editors, Paper Bodies‎^[2], →ISBN, page 139:

     … 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 …

   • 2003, Ronald Carter, The Routledge Guide to Modern EnglishWriting‎^[3], Routledge, →ISBN, page 96:

     It was rave reviewed in the Caribbean Times as 'the ruffest, tuffest and the boo-yacka of all modern gangster novels'.

   • 2006, Paige Hemmis, The Tuff Chix Guide to Easy Home Improvement‎^[4], Penguin, →ISBN, page 36:

     TUFF METER

   • 2010 January 20, Robert J. Elisberg, “CES 2020 -- Ohm on the Range”, in Huffington Post‎^[5], retrieved 14 September 2012:

     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.

   • 2011, Kristian Pope, Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling Field Guide: Legend and Lore‎^[6], Krause Publications, →ISBN:

     Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling

2. (Internet slang) Impressive, amazing, awesome, cool.

   bro thinks he's tuff

• IPA^(key): /tɵf/
• Rhymes: -ɵf

Borrowed from Italian tufo. First attested in 1774.

tuff c

1. (petrology) tuff

Borrowed from English tough. First attested in 1923.

tuff (comparative tuffare, superlative tuffast)

1. (somewhat colloquial) tough

   en tuff uppgift ― a tough task

   en tuff dag ― a tough day

   tuffa förhandlingar ― tough negotiations

   ett tufft beslut ― a tough decision

   spela tuff ― act tough

3. (colloquial) cool; badass (see usage notes)

   göra tuffa tricks på brädan ― pull off some rad tricks on the board

   Vilken tuff motorcykel! ― What a cool motorcycle!

   Om man ska vara med i ett gatugäng måste man ha ett tufft smeknamn

   If you're going to be in a street gang, you need to have a cool nickname

   • 1995, De Lyckliga Kompisarna, “Allmänt tuff [Generally Badass]”, in Sagoland [Fairy Tale Land]‎^[7]:

     Allmänt tuff. Jocke, han är allmänt tuff, och Krille, han är allmänt tuff. Allmänt tuff. Danne, han är allmänt tuff, och jag är allmänt tuff.

     Generally badass. Jocke, he [redundant in Swedish as well] is generally badass, and Krille, he is generally badass. Generally badass. Danne, he is generally badass, and I am generally badass.

The term has (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) connotations of a bad boy or girl when referring to a person. The sense of cool has (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) connotations of (somewhat) breaking social norms as well. A motorcycle might be called tuff for example, by association with bikers; tuff musik would commonly be something like heavy metal (considered cool and rebellious, "edgy"), and a tuff frisyr would be a cool and (slightly) provocative haircut. Sometimes a bit dated (or tongue-in-cheek), for example when describing music. Has come into fashion again during the early-mid 2020s among the youth.

• ball
• cool
• häftig

• “tuff”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “tuff”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “tuff”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)