n.
  - a violent or savage person or animal. 
▸informal a cruel or insensitive person.
 - an animal as opposed to a human being.
 
adj.
   - unreasoning and animal-like.
 - merely physical:
 brute force.
 - harsh or inescapable:
 brute necessity.
 
 
  Derivative
  
    - brutish adj.
  - brutishly adv.
  - brutishness n.
 
   
  Etymology
  ME (as adj.): from OFr. brut(e), from L. brutus ‘dull, stupid’.