farouche /fə-ROOSH/. adjective. Shy, awkward, lacking in social graces. Also wild, outrageous, disorderly. Multiple sources agree it derives from Old French farouche, of similar meaning. The OED claims further origins unknown; others claim from Late Latin forasticus (having come from elsewhere), from Latin foras (outdoors).
“The King is still much handsomer in his pictures and has great sweetness in his countenance instead of that farouche look which they give.”
(Horace Walpole, from a letter to Lady Hervey, October 3, 1765)
“Of medium nature, this farouche extreme
Is a drop of lightning in an inner world,
Suspended in temporary jauntiness.”
(Wallace Stevens, from “The Bouquet”)
“They were the family of whom the street was a little ashamed, the boozing father who made complicated deals about second-hand cars and his farouche, sluttish daughter, who lived discontentedly together and often brawled in a mean house where there was nothing that could be remembered with affection.”
(Angela Carter, from Love)