ruffian vs savage

ruffian

adj
  • Brutal; cruel; savagely boisterous; murderous. 

verb
  • To play the ruffian; to rage; to raise tumult. 

noun
  • A scoundrel, rascal, or unprincipled, deceitful, brutal and unreliable person. 

savage

adj
  • Brutal, vicious, or merciless. 

  • Unpleasant or unfair. 

  • Fierce and ferocious. 

  • Nude; naked. 

  • Barbaric; not civilized. 

  • Great, brilliant, amazing. 

  • Wild; not cultivated. 

verb
  • To attack or assault someone or something ferociously or without restraint. 

  • To attack with the teeth. 

  • To criticise vehemently. 

noun
  • An aggressively defiant person. 

  • A person living in a traditional, especially tribal, rather than civilized society, especially when viewed as uncivilized and uncultivated; a barbarian. 

How often have the words ruffian and savage occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )