Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: RAFF |
RAFFNoun1. A low fellow; a churl. 2. The sweepings of society; the rabble; the mob; -- chiefly used in the compound or duplicate, riffraff. 3. A promiscuous heap; a jumble; a large quantity; lumber; refuse. Transitive verb1. To sweep, snatch, draw, or huddle together; to take by a promiscuous sweep. |
Date "RAFF" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1838. (references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Commonalty | Beggar, gaberlunzie, muckworm, mudlark, sans culotte, raff, tatterdemalion, caitiff, ragamuffin, Pariah, outcast of society, tramp, vagabond, bezonian, panhandler, sundowner, chiffonnier, Cinderella, cinderwench, scrub, jade; gossoon. |
Uncleanness | Dirt, filth, soil, slop; dust, cobweb, flue; smoke, soot, smudge, smut, grit, grime, raff; sossle, sozzle. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: RAFF |
| English words defined with "RAFF": Raff merchant, Raffed, Raffing. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "RAFF": RIFF RAFF. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Riff Raff Element (1993) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "RAFF" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 63.64% of the time. "RAFF" is used about 11 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 63.64% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Noun (singular) | 36.36% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 11 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "RAFF" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Raff | Last name | 1,000 | 16,037 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "RAFF": raff merchant ♦ riff raff. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "RAFF": riff-raff. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
riff raff | 28 |
jasmine raff | 27 |
raff | 6 |
raff tab | 4 |
colin raff | 4 |
john md raff | 3 |
picture raff | 2 |
josh raff | 2 |
michael raff | 2 |
dj raff | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "RAFF"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | llum (dregs, dross, grounds, Lees, ooze, ragtag, riffraff, scab, scum, scut, sludge, tails, vermin, wash), bëj prapësi. (various references) | |
Dutch | grauw (gray, grey, rabble, riff-raff), gespuis (rabble, riff-raff), geboefte (rabble, riff-raff), canaille (rabble, riff-raff). (various references) | |
Esperanto | kanajlaro (rabble, riff-raff). (various references) | |
Finnish | roskaväki (mob, rabble, riff-raff). (various references) | |
German | Gesindel (rabble, rabbles, ragtag, riffraff, riff-raff, trash, vermins). (various references) | |
Greek | κυκεών (hotpot, jumble), συρφετόσ (mob, riffraff). (various references) | |
Hungarian | söpredék (dregs, offscourings, rabble, ragtag, riff raff, scum, scurf, sweepings, trash), csõcselék (canaille, hoi polloi, mob, populace, rabble, ragtag, riff raff, varmint). (various references) | |
Icelandic | skríll (rabble, riff-raff), múgur (rabble, riff-raff). (various references) | |
Manx | riftanyn (mob, rabble, riff-raff). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | affray.(various references) | |
Romanian | rãmãşiţe (debris, leavings, odd-come-shorts, odds and ends, remains, riff raff, tailings), lepãdãturi (offscourings, riff raff), gloatã (band, boodle, crowd, drove, flock, heap, herd, mob, multitude, populace, press, rabble, riff raff, squash, the many, troop). (various references) | |
Russian | никчемный (fit for the waste-paper-basket, good-for-nothing, riffraff), беспутничать. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | smeće (garbage, litter, offscourings, refuse, trash), izmet (excrement, faeces, feces), baraba (vagabond). (various references) | |
Spanish | gamberro (hellion, hobbledehoy, hooligan, riff raff, ruffian, thug, thuggish, yob), chusma (mob, rabble, rag-tag, riff raff, vermin), canalla (blackguard, cad, cur, heel, hound, mob, outsider, rabble, rat, riff raff, scab, scalawag, scallawag, scallywag, scapegrace, scoundrel, skunk, stinker, swine, you cad). (various references) | |
Swedish | svira (revel). (various references) | |
Turkish | döküntü tipler (riff raff), ayaktakımı (canaille, hoi polloi, ragtag, ragtag and bobtail, riff raff, ruck, sweeps, the dregs of mankind, the hoi polloi, the lower classes, the rabble, the scum of the earth, the vulgar, vulgar herd). (various references) | |
Ukranian | набрід (canaille, rag-tag, rout), мотлох (duds, lumber, odd-come-short, rag, rubbish, shoddy, shucks, wrack), покидь (subterrene). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | tầng lớp hạ lưu (riff-raff). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "RAFF": raffia, raffias, raffinose, raffinoses, raffish, raffishly, raffishness, raffishnesses, raffle, raffled, raffler, rafflers, raffles, rafflesia, rafflesias, raffling, raffs. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "RAFF": draff, riffraff. (additional references) | |
Words containing "RAFF": agraffe, agraffes, cycloparaffin, cycloparaffins, draffier, draffiest, draffish, draffs, draffy, giraffe, giraffes, giraffish, graffiti, graffitist, graffitists, graffito, nitroparaffin, nitroparaffins, paraffin, paraffined, paraffinic, paraffining, paraffins, riffraffs, sgraffiti, sgraffito, traffic, trafficabilities, trafficability, trafficable, trafficked, trafficker, traffickers, trafficking, traffics. (additional references) | |
| |
"RAFF" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: aff, Ariff, Aroff, Braff, draff, dreff, Kroff, laff, naff, Raef, Raeff, raf, rafa, raffa, raffe, raffi, rafi, rafo, rafy, raif, ralf, rarf, reff, Reiff, rfac, riaf, Rieff, riffy, rowff, traff, waff. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "RAFF" (pronounced ra"f) |
| 3 | r a" f | graph. |
| 2 | -a" f | behalf, calf, chaff, gaff, gaffe, giraffe, half, laugh, staff. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-f-f-r" | |
-1 letter: aff, arf, far. | |
-2 letters: ar, fa. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-f-f-r" | |
+1 letter: draff, raffs. | |
+2 letters: affair, affirm, afford, affray, draffs, draffy, farfal, farfel, gaffer, kaffir, raffia, raffle, tariff, zaffar, zaffer, zaffir, zaffre. | |
+3 letters: affaire, affairs, affirms, affixer, affords, affrays, affront, agraffe, baffler, chaffer, daffier, earmuff, effacer, fanfare, farfals, farfels, fearful, funfair, gaffers, gauffer, giraffe, kaffirs, offramp, piaffer, quaffer, raffias, raffish, raffled, raffler, raffles, rakeoff, reaffix, restaff, ruffian, saffron, staffer, suffari, tariffs, traffic, waffler, zaffars, zaffers, zaffirs, zaffres. | |
+4 letters: affaires, affecter, afferent, affirmed, affirmer, affixers, afforded, afforest, affrayed, affrayer, affright, affronts, agraffes, bafflers, chaffers, chaffier, chauffer, dandriff, dandruff, diffract, draffier, draffish, earmuffs, effacers, fanfares, fanfaron, farfalle, farmwife, firefang, foofaraw, foreface, funfairs, furfural, furfuran, gauffers, giraffes, graffiti, graffito, offguard, offramps, offtrack, paraffin, piaffers, quaffers, rafflers, raffling, rakeoffs, reaffirm, restaffs, riffraff, ruffians, saffrons, sclaffer, staffers, suffaris, suffrage, taffarel, tafferel, taffrail, tariffed, tartuffe, tradeoff, traffics, wafflers. | |
+5 letters: affecters, afferents, affirmers, affirming, affording, afforests, affrayers, affraying, affricate, affrights, affronted, afterlife, chaffered, chafferer, chauffers, chauffeur, cofferdam, creampuff, dandriffs, dandruffs, dandruffy, diffracts, disaffirm, draffiest, falciform, falsifier, fanfarons, farfalles, fearfully, fieldfare, firefangs, flavorful, foofaraws, forefaces, frankfurt, furfurals, furfurans, gauffered, giraffish, nontariff, officiary, overstaff, paraffins, raffinose, raffishly, rafflesia, reaffirms, reaffixed, reaffixes, rechauffe, restaffed, riffraffs, ruffianly, safflower, sclaffers, sgraffiti, sgraffito, suffragan, suffrages, taffarels, tafferels, taffrails, tariffing, tartuffes, tradeoffs. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)52 41 46 46 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).-. .- ..-. ..-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010010 01000001 01000110 01000110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)R A F F |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0052 0041 0046 0046 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)52354040 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Names: Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Orthography 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
