bourru

French

Etymology

From bourre +‎ -u.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bu.ʁy/

• Audio

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• Audio (CAN)

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Adjective

bourru (feminine bourrue, masculine plural bourrus, feminine plural bourrues)

1. surly; gruff
   • 1862, Victor Hugo, “V. Distractions”, in Les Misérables, 2e partie. Cosette; Livre sixième. Le Petit-Picpus, Belgium: A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie.:

     Ce cloître bourru n’était pourtant pas si bien muré que la vie des passions du dehors, que le drame, que le roman même, n’y pénétrassent.

     This stern cloister was not so well walled off, however, but that the life of the passions of the outside world, drama, and even romance, did not make their way in.

Further reading

• “bourru”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.