bristle
n. countablen. a stiff hair or wire on an animal or a brush. It can also mean a sharp, angry comment that makes you feel upset.
n. a stiff, coarse hair or wire, typically found on the bodies of animals or on the heads of brushes. In a figurative sense, it refers to a sharp, critical, or offensive remark.
The cat has a thick coat of bristle.
The artist used a brush with stiff bristle to create the textured background of the painting.
The critic's latest bristle was a scathing review that dismissed the film's technical achievements in favor of attacking the director's personal life.
From Middle English bristil, bristel, brustel, from Old English bristl, byrst, brystl, byrstel, from Proto-West Germanic burstilu, diminutive of Proto-West Germanic bursti, from Proto-Germanic burstiz (compare Dutch borstel, German Borste (“boar's bristle”), Icelandic burst), from Proto-Indo-European bʰr̥stís (compare Middle Irish brostaid (“to goad, spur”), Latin fastīgium (“top”), Polish barszcz (“hogweed”)).