different between yiff vs tiff

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): /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