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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

tiff.

A (generally small) argument or disagreement; a petty quarrel, a spat.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/tɪf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. A (generally small) argument or disagreement; a petty quarrel, a spat.

    informal
  2. A brief outburst or period of bad temper; a snit; also (rare) any brief outburst (for example, of laughter).

    archaic · informal
Where this word comes from

The origin of the noun is unknown; it is possibly originally dialectal and may be onomatopoeic, representing the sound of a small puff of air or gas. The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/tɪf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To be involved in a (generally small) argument or disagreement; to squabble.

    informal · intransitive
Where this word comes from

The origin of the noun is unknown; it is possibly originally dialectal and may be onomatopoeic, representing the sound of a small puff of air or gas. The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/tɪf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Synonym of tiffin (“to eat a (light) midday meal or snack; to have lunch, to lunch”).

    British · India · informal · intransitive
Where this word comes from

Probably a back-formation from or clipping of tiff(in) (“(light) midday meal or snack, luncheon”).

noun/tɪf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. A small draught or sip of liquor (especially diluted or poor quality liquor) or punch.

    archaic · countable · informal · obsolete · slang
  2. Liquor, especially diluted or poor quality liquor.

    archaic · informal · obsolete · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

The origin of the noun is unknown; it may be onomatopoeic, representing the sound of liquor being sipped. The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/tɪf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To drink (liquor), especially slowly or in small amounts; to sip.

    archaic · informal · obsolete · slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

The origin of the noun is unknown; it may be onomatopoeic, representing the sound of liquor being sipped. The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/tɪf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To deck out or dress (someone or oneself, or their body or hair).

    archaic · informal · obsolete · reflexive · slang · transitive
  2. To deck out or dress one's body or hair.

    archaic · informal · intransitive · obsolete · slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English tiffen, tif, tiffe (“to adorn, dress up; to arrange (a hairstyle); to disguise”), from Old French tifer, tiffer (“to adorn, dress up”) (modern French attifer (“to deck out”)), from Frankish *tipfōn, *tippōn (“to decorate”), possibly related to Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“plait of hair, tuft; summit, top”) (see the further etymology at that entry). The noun is derived from the verb. cognates * Dutch tippen (“to clip the points or ends of the hair”) * English tip (noun) * Middle High German zipfen (“to bob; to flutter; to frisk, prance, skip; to sashay”) * Old Norse tippa (“point, tip”)

noun/tɪf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. The way in which one's body or hair is decked out or dressed.

    archaic · informal · obsolete · rare · slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English tiffen, tif, tiffe (“to adorn, dress up; to arrange (a hairstyle); to disguise”), from Old French tifer, tiffer (“to adorn, dress up”) (modern French attifer (“to deck out”)), from Frankish *tipfōn, *tippōn (“to decorate”), possibly related to Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“plait of hair, tuft; summit, top”) (see the further etymology at that entry). The noun is derived from the verb. cognates * Dutch tippen (“to clip the points or ends of the hair”) * English tip (noun) * Middle High German zipfen (“to bob; to flutter; to frisk, prance, skip; to sashay”) * Old Norse tippa (“point, tip”)

noun/tɪf/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Alternative letter-case form of TIFF (acronym of tagged image file format).

    alt-of · informal
Where this word comes from

See TIFF.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.