different between altercation vs tiff

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French altercation.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?l.t??ke?.??n/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /?l.t??ke?.??n/
• Hyphenation: al?ter?ca?tion
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

altercation (countable and uncountable, plural altercations)

1. Heated or angry dispute

Synonyms

• dispute, wrangle

Related terms

• altercative

Translations

Anagrams

• relactation

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin altercatio

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.t??.ka.sj??/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophone: altercations

Noun

altercation f (plural altercations)

1. Altercation

Further reading

• “altercation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

Originally, a sniff, sniffing; compare Icelandic word for a smell.

Noun

tiff (plural tiffs)

1. A small argument; a petty quarrel.
2. Liquor; especially, a small draught of liquor.

Translations

Verb

tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)

1. (intransitive) To quarrel.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:squabble

   • 1846, Walter Savage Landor, untitled

     She tiff'd at Tim, she ran from Ralph.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English tiffen, Old French tiffer, tifer ("to bedizen"; > Modern French attifer), from Frankish *tipf?n, *tipp?n (“to decorate”), perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“top, tip”). Compare Dutch tippen (“to clip the points or ends of the hair”), Old Norse tippa (“point, tip”), English tip (noun), Middle High German zipfen (“to prance; skip; sashay; bob; flutter; frisk”).

Verb

tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To deck out; to dress.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of A. Tucker to this entry?)

Etymology 3

Verb

tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)

1. (British India, intransitive) To have lunch.
   • 1841, The Asiatic journal and monthly register

     Besides that one to which the permanent residence was attached, Mr. Augustus had several outlaying factories, which he visited from time to time, to superintend the manufacture of his indigo; at all of these he had little bungalows, or temporary abodes, where we tiffed and passed the heat of the day.

Related terms

• tiffin

Anagrams

• fift