jiffy

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪfi

Noun

jiffy (plural jiffies)

1. (colloquial) A very short, unspecified length of time.

   I'll be back in a jiffy.

2. (computing) A unit of time defined by the frequency of its basic timer; historically, and by convention, 0.01 seconds, but some operating systems use other values.
3. (electronics) The time between alternating current power cycles (1/60 or 1/50 of a second)
4. (physics) The time taken for light to travel one centimetre in a vacuum (sometimes one foot, or sometimes the width of a nucleon)

Synonyms

• (short length of time):
  • (standard): instant, minute, moment, second, trice
  • (colloquial): mo, sec, tick
• jif
• jiff

Translations

short length of time

• Dutch: mum (nl) n
• Finnish: tuokio (fi) n
• French: instant (fr) m, moment (fr) m, seconde (fr) f
• German: Moment (de) m, Augenblick (de) m
• Italian: attimo (it) m, baleno (it) m

• Norwegian: straks (no), øyeblikk (no) n
• Polish: chwilka (pl) f
• Turkish: lahza (tr)

computingjiffy A unit of time defined by the frequency of its basic timer

electronicsjiffy The time between alternating current power cycles

physicsjiffy The time taken for light to travel one centimetre in a vacuum