different between yiff vs riff

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “We need quality sources for these claims.”)Yiff was part of a range of onomatopoeic words that form a pseudo-language used by the furry role-playing community: yiff, yip, yerf, yaff, yarf, growf, and growlf (in order from most positive connotations to most negative connotations). Yiff meant yes or an exuberant hello! Later, yiff was assigned a meaning of a sexual proposition, a meaning that had previously been assigned to yipp (a coarse form of yip). In modern use within the furry community, yiff almost exclusively refers either to sex between anthropomorphic animals, or pornographic depictions thereof.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: y?f, IPA^(key): /j?f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Noun

yiff (usually uncountable, plural yiffs)

1. (slang, informal) Sex, especially between furries (fictional anthropomorphic animal characters, and/or members of the community surrounding their celebration).

   "FurryMuck yiffs are like real-life yiffs - there is a time and place for everything." — [1]

2. (slang, informal) Pornography of or involving furries

   Do you draw yiff?

Interjection

yiff

1. (onomatopoeic, apocryphal) Representing the bark of a fox (especially while mating).
2. (of a person, informal) To express happiness, to state that something is sexy.

Translations

Verb

yiff (third-person singular simple present yiffs, present participle yiffing, simple past and past participle yiffed)

1. (transitive, intransitive, slang, informal) To have sex, to mate (said of animals, especially foxes, or people dressed up as animals).
   • "He's a furry fan and he's okay,
     He MUCKs all night and he yiffs all day."
     — [2]
   • "Well, according to his sig, he waits until it moves before he yiffs it." — [3]
2. (transitive and intransitive, slang, informal) To propose cybersex to someone.

Derived terms

• yiffer
• yiffy

Translations

References

• "Yiff", A Furry Glossary
• Definition of "yiff", Furtopia
• LittleFox’s own explanation of the etymology of "Yiff", Everything2, accessed on 2005-03-30 (bottom of page)

Anagrams

• FYFI, iffy

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English ?if.

Conjunction

yiff

1. if
   • c. 1438, John Lydgate Fall of Princes:

     Yiff ther was lak, thou woldest crie & pleyne.

   • c. 1438, John Lydgate Fall of Princes:

     And yiff that trust with pryncis wil nat tarie,
     Litil merueile thouh the peeple varie […]

Etymology 2

From Old English giefan.

Verb

yiff

1. Alternative form of yiven
   • 1393, Jean d’Arras Roman de Melusine:

     Another ordre to you yiff I shall,
     A knyght will you mak of full hye degre
     As your brethren ben named ryght roiall.

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Perhaps a clipping of riffle, or an alteration of refrain.

Noun

riff (plural riffs)

1. A repeated instrumental melody line in a song.

   Listen to one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time!

2. A clever or witty remark.
3. A variation on something.
   • 2012, The Economist, London Skyline: Tower Power

     Both the Orbit and the Pinnacle are riffs on an idea sketched out in 1917 by Vladimir Tatlin for a monument to international communism.

4. A spoof.

Translations

Verb

riff (third-person singular simple present riffs, present participle riffing, simple past and past participle riffed)

1. To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.
2. To riffle.

Etymology 2

From Middle English *rif (found only in midrif), from Old English hrif (“the belly; womb”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrif, from Proto-Germanic *hrefaz (“body; torso; belly”), from Proto-Indo-European *krep- (“body”). Doublet of corpus.

Noun

riff (plural riffs)

2. (anatomy, archaic) The belly; the bowels.

Derived terms

• midriff

See also

• riff-raff
• riffraff

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English riff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /r?f/
• Hyphenation: riff
• Rhymes: -?f
• Homophone: rif

Noun

riff m (plural riffs, diminutive riffje n)

1. (music) riff

Derived terms

• gitaarriff

French

Etymology

From English riff.

Noun

riff m (plural riffs)

1. (music) riff

Italian

Etymology

From English riff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?rif?/
• Hyphenation: rìff

Noun

riff m (plural riff)

1. (music, neologism, chiefly in translations from English) riff

   Synonym: ritornello

Spanish

Etymology

From English riff

Noun

riff m (plural riffs)

1. (music) riff