Brutish means crude, violent and unthinking. Brutish behaviour, a brutish man, brutish force.
Hobbes gave it its most quoted outing, describing life without government as nasty, brutish and short. The word looks down from a height, since calling somebody brutish says they are nearer animal than person.
1adjectivebrutishCrude, violent and unthinking.
“The guards were brutish men who beat the prisoners for no reason.”
brutish is a quality.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʷreh₂-
Proto-Indo-European
*gʷréh₂us — heavy
Latin
brūtus — dull, stupid, insensible
Old French
brut
Middle French
brut
English
brute
English, today
brutish
From brute + -ish. brute comes from Middle French brut, from Old French brut, from Latin brūtus (“dull, stupid, insensible”), an osc - loanword, from Proto-Indo-European gʷréh₂us (“heavy”). Cognate with Ancient Greek βαρύς, Persian گران and Sanskrit गुरु (English guru).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA