riff

See also: Riff and RIFF

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪf
• 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!

   • 2009 November 27, “Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has 'best guitar riff'”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has been named the greatest guitar riff of all time, 41 years after it was recorded, in a poll by website Music Radar.

2. A clever or witty remark.
   • 2015 September 27, “Pope Francis delivers off-the-cuff riff on family life”, in USA Today‎^[2]:

     Pope Francis delivers off-the-cuff riff on family life

3. A variation on something.
   • 2012, The Economist, London Skyline: Tower Power‎^[3]:

     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.
   • 2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club‎^[4], archived from the original on 7 December 2017:

     The creative team has experience with spoofing: Both [Paul] Rudd and [Amy] Poehler had parts in [David] Wain’s Wet Hot American Summer, a hysterically irreverent riff on ’80s summer-camp comedies.

Translations

repeated instrumental melody line

• Catalan: riff, melodia (ca) f
• Esperanto: ripetfrazo
• Finnish: riffi (fi)
• French: riff (fr) m
• German: Riff (de) m, Motiv (de) n, Ostinato (de) n
• Italian: riff (it) m (neologism), ritornello (it) m
• Japanese: リフ (rifu)
• Maori: rerenga auau
• Portuguese: riff (pt) m
• Russian: мотив (ru) m (motiv)
• Spanish: riff m
• Swedish: riff (sv) n

clever or witty remark

• Finnish: napautus (fi)
• German: witzige Bemerkung f

variation — see variation

spoof — see spoof

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.
   • 2006, Janet Tashjian, Fault Line: A Novel, →ISBN:

     She riffed on the Olympic judges, the bobsled team, then ad-libbed with a woman drinking a martini at the front table.

   • 2011, Edward Glaeser, Triumph of the City, →ISBN:

     They were great architects deeply enmeshed in an urban chain of innovation; Wright riffed on Sullivan's idea of form following function, and Sullivan riffed on Jenney, and Jenney relied on the fireproofing innovations of Peter B. Wight.

   • 2014, Johann P. Arnason, Religion and Politics: European and Global Perspectives, →ISBN, page 59:

     For Holyoake a strategic advantage of his newly coined label was the way it riffed on the term 'secular' in the Western Christian imaginary.

   • 2014, Edward Stewart, Privileged Lives, →ISBN:

     He riffed an upward arpeggio and in a smooth, slightly neutered baritone began singing “Baby Face.”

   • 2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club‎^[5], archived from the original on 21 November 2019:

     In particular, Ralph Breaks The Internet riffs a lot on its enormous parent company, from that princess bit to the Sterling Holloway tone that new good-luck charm Alan Tudyk brings to his vocal performance to a goof on the de facto parenting advice that’s at the heart of so many Pixar movies.

2. To riffle.
   • 2010, Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind, →ISBN:

     He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a wellworn deck of cards. He hated Saturday duty. He cut the deck and riffed the two halves together.

   • 2012, Jane Roberts, Triple Challenge: '69 to '70, →ISBN, page 173:

     He was gracious enough to thank her, and briefly riffed through the pages before putting it in his briefcase.

   • 2014, Miles Swarthout, The Last Shootist, →ISBN:

     The man reached inside a pocket of the black broadcloth coat he'd draped over the back of his chair and withdrew a deck of cards, which he fanned in one hand, then bent back and riffed rapidly into the palm of his other.

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”). Distant doublet of corpus, corpse, and corse.

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): /rɪf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: riff
• Rhymes: -ɪf
• Homophone: rif

Noun

riff m (plural riffs, diminutive riffje n)

1. (music) riff

Derived terms

• gitaarriff

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English riff.

Noun

riff m (plural riffs)

1. (music) riff

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English riff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrif/
• Rhymes: -if
• Hyphenation: rìff

Noun

riff m

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

   Synonym: ritornello

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English riff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrif/ [ˈrif]
• Rhymes: -if
• Syllabification: riff

Noun

riff m (plural riffs)

1. (music) riff

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.