thug
n. countablen. a violent person, especially a criminal who treats others roughly. You use this word for someone who uses physical force to get what they want.
n. a violent person, typically a criminal or a member of a gang. Often carries a connotation of physical intimidation or brutality.
The shopkeeper was attacked by a local thug.
The politician hired a group of thugs to intimidate his rivals and disrupt their campaign events.
While the film attempts to humanize the protagonist, he remains a common thug whose primary method of negotiation is the threat of physical violence.
From Hindi ठग (ṭhag, “swindler, fraud, cheat”). Thuggee was a network of gangs in India from the 17th century to the 19th century who robbed and murdered travellers, often by strangling and beating their victims to death. During British Imperial rule of India, many Indian words passed into common English, and by 1810 thug referred to a member of these Indian gangs. The sense was adopted more generally as "ruffian, cutthroat, and cruel robber" by 1839. Related to English thatch, deck.
Often used as a pejorative to describe someone perceived as low-class or violent.