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PlainSpell

scruff

/skɹʌf/noun, verb

scruff is spelled S-C-R-U-F-F: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,073rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, scruff means “Someone with an untidy appearance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of scruff is scruffs.

How many letters and syllables are in scruff?

Letters6: S-C-R-U-F-F
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 47,073rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is scruff?

Scruff appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,073rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce scruff?

  • US /skɹʌf/
  • Australia /skɹɐf/
  • /skɹʊf/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-scruff.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with scruff?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as scruff from its last stressed vowel (/ʌf/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of scruff

  • scruffs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • scruffing participle, present
  • scruffed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does scruff mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Someone with an untidy appearance.

    That candidate will never get the job: he's a right scruff.

  2. 2

    Stubble, facial hair (on males).

  3. 3

    obsoleteCrust.

  4. 4

    obsoleteScurf.

  5. 5

    The loose skin at the back of the neck of some animals.

  6. 6

    rareThe back of the neck, nape; also scruff of the neck.

    He grabbed his unruly child by the scruff of the neck, and took him home.

verb

  1. 1

    To lift or carry by the scruff.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Scruff in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanSchmutzfink (Someone with an untidy appearance), Schlafittchen, Genick (scruff of the neck)
Spanishzarrapastroso (Someone with an untidy appearance), pescuezo (loose skin at the back of the neck of some…)
Portuguesecangote (loose skin at the back of the neck of some…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does scruff come from?

See scurf.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after scruff