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ruff¹

(rŭf)

1. A stiffly starched frilled or pleated circular collar of lace, muslin, or other fine fabric, worn by men and women in the 1500s and 1600s.

2. A distinctive collarlike projection around the neck, as of feathers on a bird or of fur on a mammal.

3. A migratory sandpiper (Philomachus pugnax) of the Eastern Hemisphere, the male of which has collarlike, erectile feathers around the neck during the breeding season.

[Perhaps short for RUFFLE¹.]

ruffed adj.

(click for a larger image)

ruff1

c. 1600 Portrait of a Gentleman, by El Greco

ruff²

(rŭf) Games

1. The playing of a trump card when one cannot follow suit.

2. An old game resembling whist.

tr. & intr.v. ruffed, ruff·ing, ruffs

To trump or play a trump.

[Obsolete French ronfle, roffle, a kind of card game, from Old French ronfle, from renfler, to rise : re-, re- + enfler, to cause to swell (from Latin īnflāre; see INFLATE).]

ruff³

(rŭf)

1. also ruffe Any of several marine fishes of the family Centrolophidae, usually having spiny dorsal fins.

2. A small edible fish (Arripis georgianus) of coastal and estuarine waters of southern Australia. Also called roughy.

3. Variant of ruffe.

[Middle English rowe, roffe, ruffe, any of various fishes, especially Gymnocephalus cernuus, perhaps from variant of rough, rough; see ROUGH, or from Medieval Latin rufus, a kind of fish (perhaps from Latin rūfus, red, tawny; see RUFOUS).]

ruff⁴

(rŭf)

See ruffle².

[Of imitative origin.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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