古英語のruh、荒い、ぼろぼろ、毛むくじゃら、原語ゲルマン語*rukhaz、砕ける、PIE*reue、砕く、割る、から、語源的には破滅、ぼろ、から。
To lie rough; to lie all night in one's clothes: called also roughing it. Likewise to sleep on the bare deck of a ship, when the person is commonly advised to chuse the softest plank. [Grose, "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1788]To rough out "shape or plan approximately" is from 1770. To rough up "make rough" is from 1763. To rough (someone) up "beat up, jostle violently" is from 1868. The U.S. football penalty roughing was originally a term from boxing (1866).