harsh
pronunciation
How to pronounce harsh in British English:
UK [hɑːʃ]
How to pronounce harsh in American English:
US [hɑːrʃ]
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- Adjective:
- unpleasantly stern
- disagreeable to the senses
- extremely unkind or cruel
- severe
- used of circumstances (especially weather) that cause suffering
- sharply disagreeable; rigorous
Word Origin
- harsh
- harsh: [16] Harsh originally meant ‘hairy’. Its ancestor, Middle Low German harsch, was a derivative of the noun haer ‘hair’, and its exact English equivalent would have been hairish. By the time English acquired it, it had broadened out in meaning to ‘rough’, both literally and figuratively.
- harsh (adj.)
- originally of texture, "hairy," 1530s, probably from Middle English harske "rough, coarse, sour" (c. 1300), a northern word of Scandinavian origin (compare Danish and Norwegian harsk "rancid, rank"), related to Middle Low German harsch "rough, raw," German harst "a rake;" perhaps from PIE root *kars- "to scrape, scratch, rub, card" (cognates: Lithuanian karsiu "to comb," Old Church Slavonic krasta, Russian korosta "to itch," Latin carduus "thistle," Sanskrit kasati "rubs, scratches"). Meaning "offensive to feelings" is from 1570s; that of "disagreeable, rude" from 1610s.
- harsh (v.)
- 1580s, "sound harshly," from harsh (adj.). Meaning "make harsh, subject to harshness" is by 1991. Related: Harshed; harshing. Harshen is attested from 1821.
Example
- 1. That 's pretty harsh language by japanese standards .
- 2. Consumers certainly make harsh judgments about japanese products .
- 3. They would not be prepared for such harsh weather .
- 4. The harsh sentence can still be appealed against .
- 5. Demand for these islands is holding up , even in harsh economic times .