husky

/ˈhʌski/

/ˈhʌski/

Other forms: huskies; huskier; huskiest

If your voice is low and gruff, it's husky. A deep, gravelly voice is husky, and you're husky if you have a large, muscled, heavy body. You might even be a husky person with a husky voice.

When husky is a noun, it's a northern breed of dog that's bred to pull a sled. Your Alaskan Husky could have a husky bark, and your voice might be the result of a bad cold, or it just might be the normal way you speak. The husky that describes a voice comes from husk, in the sense of "dry as a husk." The husky dog's root is from 1850s Canadian English, hoskey.

Definitions of husky

1. adjective

   deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness or emotion
   “"makes all the instruments sound powerful but husky"- Virgil Thomson”

   synonyms: gruff, hoarse

   cacophonic, cacophonous

   having an unpleasant sound
2. adjective

   muscular and heavily built
   “clothing sizes for husky boys”

   synonyms: beefy, buirdly, burly, strapping

   robust

   sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction
3. noun

   breed of heavy-coated Arctic sled dog
   synonyms: Eskimo dog

   type of:

   working dog

   any of several breeds of usually large powerful dogs bred to work as draft animals and guard and guide dogs