Added 8 October 2026
harsh
/ˈhɑːʃ/ adjective
In Latin: asper, raucus, immītis Wiktionary
adjective Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about harsh at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
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Unpleasantly stern.
wild and harsh country full of hot sand and cactus
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Unpleasantly rough or jarring to the senses.
the harsh cry of a blue jay
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Of textures that are rough to the touch or substances consisting of relatively large particles.
coarse meal
Origin
From Middle English harsk, harisk(e), hask(e), herris. Century derived the term from Old Norse harskr (whence Danish harsk (“rancid”), dialectal Norwegian hersk, Swedish härsk, Swedish härsken); the Middle English Dictionary derives it from that and Middle Low German harsch (“rough”, literally “hairy”) (whence also German harsch), from haer (“hair”), from Old Saxon hār, from Proto-West Germanic *hār; the Oxford Dictionary of English derives it from Middle Low German alone.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)