# tough

> English word · Adjective · IPA /tʌf/ · frequency rank #1,777

## Definitions
1. Strong and resilient; sturdy.
2. Difficult to cut or chew.
3. Rugged or physically hardy.
4. Stubborn or persistent; capable of stubbornness or persistence.
5. Harsh or severe.
6. Rowdy or rough.
7. Difficult or demanding.
8. Undergoing plastic deformation before breaking.
9. Strict, not lenient.

## Etymology
From 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 Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- (“to bite”).
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian toai, Low German tei, tah, tage, Dutch taai, Luxembourgish zéi, German zäh(e), Bavarian zaach, all principally “chewy, leathery, sticky”, and hence “tenacious, resilient, dogged”.

## Easily confused with
- **tug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-tug)
- **tour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-tour)
- **tout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-tout)
- **tugs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-tugs)
- **truth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-truth)
- **Tours** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-tours)
- **Toure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-toure)
- **trough** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-trough)
- **tougher** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-tougher)
- **toughen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-toughen)
- **tuff** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tough-vs-tuff)
- **toh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toh-vs-tough)
- **thug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/thug-vs-tough)
- **tong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tong-vs-tough)
- **Togo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/togo-vs-tough)
- **tosh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tosh-vs-tough)
- **toga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toga-vs-tough)
- **Toth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toth-vs-tough)
- **touch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/touch-vs-tough)
- **tooth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tooth-vs-tough)

## Common misspellings (7)
`otugh`, `toguh`, `touggh`, `toughh`, `touhg`, `ttough`, `tuogh`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tough