kerfuffle

English

WOTD – 11 February 2008

Alternative forms

• cufuffle, cuffuffle, curfuffle, gefuffle, kafuffle, kerfluff, kerfluffle, kurfuffle
• fuffle (by apheresis)

Etymology

Probably from Scots curfuffle, equivalent to ker- +‎ fuffle, or related to Irish cior thual (“char athwart: confusion, disorder”). Similar to modern Welsh cythrwfl (“uproar, trouble, agitation”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈfʌfəl/
• IPA^(key): /kɚˈfʌfəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌfəl

Noun

kerfuffle (plural kerfuffles)

1. (chiefly Commonwealth, informal) A disorderly outburst, disturbance, commotion, or tumult. [from 19th c.]

   Synonyms: brouhaha, donnybrook, fracas, hubbub, hullabaloo, mess, racket

Derived terms

• kerfluff
• kerfuffly

Translations

disorderly outburst

• Bulgarian: суматоха (bg) f (sumatoha)
• Catalan: aldarull (ca) m, commoció f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 混亂／混乱 (zh) (hùnluàn), 混乱 (zh) (hùnluàn), 動亂／动乱 (zh) (dòngluàn), 动乱 (zh) (dòngluàn), 鬧騰／闹腾 (zh) (nàoteng), 闹腾 (zh) (nàoteng), 吵鬧／吵闹 (zh) (chǎonào), 吵闹 (zh) (chǎonào)

• Czech: povyk (cs) m, rámus (cs) m, mela (cs) f, tahanice f
• Dutch: tumult (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Faroese: ófriður m, rok n
• Finnish: hälinä (fi), hässäkkä (fi)
• French: désordre (fr) m, tumulte (fr) m, brouhaha (fr) m
• German: Wirbel (de) m, Aufruhr (de) m, Theater (de) n, Durcheinander (de) n
• Portuguese: bafafá (pt) m, distúrbio (pt) m, tumulto (pt) m
• Russian: сумато́ха (ru) f (sumatóxa)
• Spanish: disturbio (es), descalzaperros m
• Swedish: ståhej (sv) n, uppståndelse (sv) c

Verb

kerfuffle (third-person singular simple present kerfuffles, present participle kerfuffling, simple past and past participle kerfuffled)

1. (chiefly British, informal) To make a disorderly outburst or commotion.