farouche means sullen or recalcitrant. It carries an Arena rating of 1394, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, farouche ranks #5,076 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #5,720 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #6,533 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #7,177 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
farouche is pronounced /fəˈɹuːʃ/.
Why “farouche” is a great word
Sullen, shy, or socially awkward in a way that appears fierce or unsociable. From French *farouche* ("wild, shy, sullen"), from Late Latin *forasticus* ("living outside, foreign, wild"), from Latin *foras* ("outdoors, outside"). Unlike "timid," which suggests a simple, fearful reticence, or "recalcitrant," which denotes active defiance, farouche describes a defensive wildness born of profound social dislocation. It is the feral cat hissing from under the porch, the child who glowers with arms crossed at a party, the hermit poet who answers the door with narrowed eyes and silence thick as moss—the wildness not of malice, but of one who has learned to meet the world with the untamable thorn of suspicion.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French farouche.
adj
- Sullen or recalcitrant.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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