raffish

English

Etymology

From late 18th century raff (“persons among the lowest class in society”) +‎ -ish, still retained in contemporary English with riffraff. From Old French raffer (“to wear away”), of Germanic origin. Compare German raffen. Compare rip (“to tear”), rap (“to snatch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹæfɪʃ/

• Audio (Southern England)

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Adjective

raffish (comparative more raffish, superlative most raffish)

1. Characterized by careless unconventionality; rakish.
   • 2021 May 4, Ruth La Ferla, “On That Bombshell Billie Eilish Cover for British Vogue”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Billie Eilish wants you to know she is in charge, brash and self-assured enough to scrap the raffish image that helped garner her a world of fans in favor of something a little more … adult.

   • 2022, Jennifer Egan, “i, the Protagonist”, in The Candy House:

     The smokers' most raffish outsider, Comstock, appeared to do nothing but smoke; Chris had never seen him inside the building.

2. Low-class; disreputable; vulgar.
   • 1891 February–December, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter XV, in In the South Seas […], New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1896, →OCLC:

     I had met the man before this in the village, and detested him on sight; there was something indescribably raffish in his looks and ways that raised my gorge; […]

   • 1914, Joseph Conrad, “The Governess”, in Chance‎^[2], London: Methuen, →OCLC:

     He bowed cordially to the lady in charge of Miss de Barral’s education, whom he saw in the hall engaged in conversation with a very good-looking but somewhat raffish young gentleman.

   • 1919, Anthony Hope, chapter VII, in The Secret of the Tower‎^[3]:

     He wore a neat dark overcoat, brown shoes, and a bowler hat rather on one side; his appearance was, in fact, genteel, though his air was a trifle raffish.

   • 1951 February 11, Gladwin Hill, “Atomic Boom Town In the Desert”, in The New York Times‎^[4], →ISSN:

     Altogether the city [Las Vegas] is one of the most amiably raffish communities in the nation—an assembly of glittering chrome and flaming colors by day, a flowering jungle of glowing neon and flashing lights by night.

Related terms

• riffraff

Translations

characterized by careless unconventionality — see also rakish

• Bulgarian: разпасан (bg) (razpasan)
• German: verwegen (de)

Anagrams

• Shariff