Szorstkie

Szorstkie is a Polish adjective meaning rough, coarse, or harsh in texture or tone. It is used to describe tangible surfaces or materials, such as szorstkie włosy (coarse hair) or szorstkie dłonie (rough hands), as well as figurative qualities like szorstkie słowa (rough or harsh words) or szorstki charakter (rough character). Beyond texture, the term can convey a sense of harshness in voice, manners, or mood.

In linguistic terms, szorstkie is a form of the base adjective szorstki. Polish adjectives agree with the gender, number, and case of the nouns they modify, so szorstkie appears with feminine plural nouns and with certain neuter or inanimate plural contexts; other gender-number forms of the adjective exist for different nouns. This inflected variation is a normal feature of Polish grammar and allows precise description across different contexts.

Etymologically, szorstkie derives from szorstki, which traces its roots to older Polish forms meaning rough or harsh. The word has a stable, everyday presence in written and spoken Polish, and it often appears in descriptive prose, journalism, and everyday speech to convey tactile or perceptual roughness as well as metaphorical sharpness.

Related terms include szorstkość, the corresponding noun form meaning roughness or harshness, and synonyms such as chropowaty. The choice between these terms depends on nuance and collocation, but szorstkie remains a common, neutral descriptor for texture and tone.