Short, stiff hairs growing on a person's face when they haven't shaved for a day or two, or short stalks of grain left after harvesting.
From Old French 'estuble' and Latin 'stupula,' originally referring to grain stalks left in a field. The meaning extended to describe similar-looking facial hair.
Stubble became fashionable as a masculine look in the 1980s and has stayed cool ever since, but a century ago men were expected to be completely clean-shaven—what we think of as rugged today was once considered lazy and unkempt!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.