Other forms: ruffians
A ruffian is a violent lawless man. A gang of ruffians, young ruffians, a pack of ruffians.
It is old-fashioned and now nearly always slightly comic — calling somebody a ruffian in earnest would be very unusual. It belongs to Victorian fiction and to mock outrage about children. Note that the word came from Italian ruffiano, meaning a pimp, and the sense of general violence is the English narrowing of it.
1nounruffianA violent lawless man.
“A gang of ruffians attacked the traveller on the lonely road and stole his horse.”
ruffian is a violent person.
Middle French rufian comes from Italian ruffiano, a pimp, of uncertain earlier origin. English kept the violence and dropped the specific trade.
Italian
ruffiano — pimp
Middle French
rufian
English, today
ruffian
From Middle French rufian, from Italian ruffiano (“pimp”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA