Bristly means covered in short stiff hairs. A bristly chin, bristly leaves, a bristly brush.
It describes what you feel rather than what you see, and it is the standard word for an unshaven face. Applied to a person's manner it means prickly and quick to take offence, which is the same image carried across.
1adjectivebristlyCovered in short stiff hairs.
“The caterpillar was bristly and made my fingers itch when I touched it.”
bristly is a quality of texture.
Bristle plus -y, from Old English byrst, a bristle, from a Germanic root meaning something stiff and pointed.
Middle English
bristli
English, today
bristly
From Middle English bristli, brustly, equivalent to bristle + y.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA