A rude, coarse, or vulgar person; someone lacking manners or refinement.
Possibly from Middle English or dialectal Germanic origins, though the exact source is debated among etymologists. It may relate to words meaning 'churl' or 'boor' in Northern European languages, with the initial 'gn' suggesting Germanic roots.
The 'gn' at the start of 'gnoff' is a clue that this word probably came from German or Dutch traders—languages that love their gnarled consonant clusters—making it a linguistic marker of medieval commercial contact.
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