tousle
/ˈtaʊz(ə)l
/verb [with object] (usually as adjective tousled)
Make (something, especially a person’s hair) untidy: Nathan’s tousled head appeared in the hatchway...
- He had dark tousled hair that appeared to have been cut by a barber in a rush.
- His usual gelled hair was tousled into a mess, his skin pale and pallid.
- Her dark brown hair was tousled and tangled with signs of restless sleep.
Synonyms
untidy, messy, unkempt, disordered, disarranged, messed up, rumpled, dishevelled, bedraggled;
uncombed, ungroomed, ruffled, tangled, matted, windblown, wild
informal mussed up
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'handle roughly or rudely'): frequentative of dialect touse 'handle roughly', of Germanic origin and related to German zausen. Compare with tussle.
hassle from [late 19th century]:
This was originally a dialect word in the sense ‘hack or saw at’. The origin is unknown but it may be a blend of haggle (LME from an Old Norse word for ‘hack, mangle’) and tussle (LME, probably the same word as tousle, of Germanic origin).