different between gaffe vs gaffa

English

Alternative forms

• gaff

Etymology

From French gaffe (“blunder”). Doublet of gaff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æf/
• Rhymes: -æf

Noun

gaffe (plural gaffes)

1. A foolish and embarrassing error, especially one made in public.

   Synonyms: blooper, blunder, mistake, error, slip, slip-up; see also Thesaurus:error

Translations

See also

• malapropism
• Freudian slip
• Bushism

French

Etymology

From Old Occitan gaf (“clasp”), from Gothic ???????????????????? (gafah, “clasp”, noun), from ????????- (ga-, intensifier) + ???????????????????? (fahan, “to catch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?af/
• Rhymes: -af

Noun 1

gaffe f (plural gaffes)

1. gaffe, blunder, goof-up (North American), cock-up (British)

Derived terms

• faire gaffe

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: gafe

Noun 2

gaffe f (plural gaffes)

1. (nautical) boathook

Further reading

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

German

Pronunciation

Verb

gaffe

1. inflection of gaffen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. singular imperative
   3. first/third-person singular subjunctive I

Italian

Noun

gaffe f

1. plural of gaffa

Noun

gaffe f (invariable)

1. gaffe, blunder, boob

English

Noun

gaffa (plural gaffas)

1. (Britain, colloquial) Gaffer tape.
   • 2012, Katherine Angel, Unmastered, Penguin 2014, p. 250:

     A body – a corpse – my own, I think – wrapped in tape, suspended in gaffa.

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: gaffas, gaffât

Verb

gaffa

1. third-person singular past historic of gaffer

Italian

Etymology

From Middle French gaffe, from Old Occitan gaf (“hook”), derivative of gafar (“to seize”), either from Gothic ????????????- (gaf-) derived from ???????????????????? (giban, “to give”) or from ???????????????????? (gafah, “clasp”), from ????????- (ga-) (intensifier) + ???????????????????? (fahan, “to catch”).

Noun

gaffa f (plural gaffe)

1. (nautical) gaff (hooked pole)