This adjective literally means 'not tame' or 'wild,' used of savage persons or animals. Classical Greek applied it to wild beasts and uncivilized people. Paul uses it in 2 Timothy 3:3 to characterize people in the last days as brutal. The alpha-privative negates 'tame' (ἥμερος), creating a term for savage, uncivilized behavior. Spanish 'crueles' (cruel), French and German preservations of the Greek form, and English 'brutal' all emphasize violent, inhuman conduct. This goes beyond rudeness to describe people who have rejected civilized restraint.