different between chuff vs chiff

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??f/
• Rhymes: -?f
• Homophone: chough

Etymology 1

15th century, dialectal, from Middle English chuffe, in noun sense “stupid fellow”. Adjective sense “surly, displeased” from 1832.

Adjective

chuff (comparative more chuff, superlative most chuff)

1. (Britain) Surly; annoyed; displeased; disgruntled.
2. (Britain, dialect) stupid; churlish

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (surly): chuffy

Noun

chuff (plural chuffs)

1. A coarse or stupid fellow.

Translations

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic. Compare chug and puff.

Verb

chuff (third-person singular simple present chuffs, present participle chuffing, simple past and past participle chuffed)

1. (intransitive) To make noisy puffing sounds, as of a steam locomotive.
   • 1912, Katherine Mansfield, "The Woman At The Store", Selected Short Stories

     The horses stumbled along, coughing and chuffing.

   • 1928, D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover

     […] and the small lit up train that chuffed past in the cutting made it seem like real night.
2. (Britain, slang) To break wind.
3. Of a powder charge: to become extinguished and reignited intermittently.

Translations

Noun

chuff (countable and uncountable, plural chuffs)

1. (scriptwriting, uncountable) Superfluous small talk that is free of conflict, offers no character development, description or insight, and does not advance the story or plot.
2. A breathy noise produced by a tiger, similar in function to a cat's purr.

Etymology 3

1520s, in sense “swollen with fat”; circa 1860, British dialect, in sense “pleased”. Possibly related to “coarse, stupid, fat-headed” sense (see etymology 1 above). Or, perhaps a euphemistic alteration of fuck or another expletive.

Adjective

chuff (comparative more chuff, superlative most chuff)

1. (Britain) Pleased, proud.
2. (obsolete) Swollen with fat.
3. (vulgar slang, of cheeks) Swollen.

Derived terms

• (pleased): chuffed

Synonyms

• (swollen): chuffy

Noun

chuff (plural chuffs)

1. (vulgar slang) The vagina
2. (vulgar slang) The anus

   The car behind was following too close — it was right up my chuff.

Derived terms

• gnat's chuff

References

Further reading

• “chuff” at The Septic’s Companion: A British Slang Dictionary

English

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Noun

chiff (plural chiffs)

1. (music) The characteristic sound made as part of the attack of certain notes on the organ.
   • 1998, Fletcher, N.H. and Rossing, T.D, The Physics of Musical Instruments, Springer Science & Business Media, page 570

     In all these adjustments, the voicer must have regard to the steady sound of the pipe, to its promptness of speech, and to the presence or absence of any desired starting transient or chiff.