different between scum vs riffraff

English

Alternative forms

• skum (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English scum, scome, skum, skome, scumme, from Middle Dutch sch?me (“foam”), from Proto-Germanic *sk?maz (“froth, foam”), from Proto-Indo-European *skew- (“to cover, conceal”). Cognate with Dutch schuim (“foam”), German Schaum (“foam”), Danish and Swedish skum (“foam”). Compare also French écume (“scum”), Italian schiuma (“foam”), Walloon schome (“scum, foam”), Lithuanian šamas (“catfish”) and skanus (“tasty”) from the same Germanic source. Related to skim.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Noun

scum (countable and uncountable, plural scums)

1. (uncountable) A layer of impurities that accumulates at the surface of a liquid (especially molten metal or water).

2. (uncountable) A greenish water vegetation (such as algae), usually found floating on the surface of ponds

3. The topmost liquid layer of a cesspool or septic tank.
4. (uncountable, slang, chiefly US) semen
5. (derogatory, slang) A reprehensible person or persons.

Synonyms

• (layer of impurities): dross, impurities
• (layer of impurities on molten metal): cinder, scoriae, slag
• (person considered reprehensible): bastard

Derived terms

• scumbag
• scummy
• scum of the earth

Translations

Verb

scum (third-person singular simple present scums, present participle scumming, simple past and past participle scummed)

1. To remove the layer of scum from (a liquid etc.).
2. To remove (something) as scum.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:

     Some scumd the drosse, that from the metall came; / Some stird the molten owre with ladles great […].

3. To become covered with scum.
   • 1769, Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English House-keeper, pp.321-322:

     Take the smallest Cucumbers you can get, and as free from Spots as possible, put them into a strong Salt and Water for nine or ten Days, or 'till they are quite Yellow, and stir them twice a Day at least, or they will scum over, and grow soft

4. (obsolete) To scour (the land, sea etc.).
5. (obsolete) To gather together, as scum.
   • 1815, Rudolf Ackerman and Frederic Shoberl, The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics:

     A great majority of the members are scummed together from the Jacobinical dregs of former periods of the revolution.

6. (video games, informal) To startscum or savescum.

Translations

Anagrams

• CMUs, MCUs, USMC, cums

English

Alternative forms

• riff-raff

Etymology

From Old French rif et raf (“one and all”), of Germanic origin. The first word is from rifler (“to scrape off”) and the last is from raffler, related to rafler (“to plunder”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???f?æf/

Noun

riffraff (usually uncountable, plural riffraffs)

1. The rabble; crowds; the common people.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:commonalty
2. Sweepings; refuse.

Derived terms

• riffraffish

Translations

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.