brawny

Think of a lumberjack felling trees or a blacksmith hammering hot metal—those are the scenes people imagine when they hear "brawny." It points to a person with a heavy, muscular build and practical physical strength, not just willpower or determination. You usually wouldn't call a slender scholar brawny, but you might describe a weightlifter, dockworker, or construction worker that way. The word suggests real, usable power and a body built for hard, physical work.

"Brawny" describes someone who is strongly and heavily built, with visible muscle and solid physical power. It is more specific than simply being strong because it usually implies a substantial, muscular frame. While "strong" can refer to inner resolve or abstract influence, "brawny" is normally about the body and physical capability. It works well for people in labor-intensive work where build and strength are obvious at a glance—weightlifters, carpenters, farm workers, and others whose jobs demand it.

The term is linked to the older word "brawn," meaning flesh or muscle, and has long been used for people whose daily life required major physical exertion. Think of mythic figures like Hercules when people call them examples of a brawny character.

Today, "brawny" is mainly used for people, but you can also apply it figuratively to things with a similar impression of mass and strength, such as a brawny tree trunk, a brawny shoreline, or a brawny draft that arrives all at once. Yet even in these cases, the core idea stays physical, solid, and forceful.

So, if you picture someone with broad shoulders, thick arms, and a powerful frame, you are picturing someone brawny.