griffe

See also: Griffe and griffé

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹɪf/
• Homophone: griff
• Rhymes: -ɪf

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French griffe (“claw”).

Noun

griffe (plural griffes)

1. A claw-like ornament at the base of a column.
   • 2013, Russell Sturgis, Francis A. Davis, Sturgis' Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture and Building: An Unabridged Reprint of the 1901-2 Edition, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 323:

     The primary use of this is to give the column a broader base and to diminish the amount of the cutting away of the solid stone. The griffe, however, is often used for elaborate ornamentation, being carved into vegetable or even animal form.

Etymology 2

From Cajun French (in period American English usage) and from general French griffe (in reference to such people in e.g. Haiti), perhaps from (American) Spanish grifo (supposedly "curly-haired").

Noun

griffe (plural griffes)

1. (chiefly US, dialectal, dated or historical) A person of mixed (black and white) race, especially the offspring of a mulatto (person of mixed black and white ancestry) and a person of fully black ancestry.
   • 2017, Terry Rey, The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

     Saint-Domingue's complex system of racial classification allowed for no fewer than eight “mixed” racial parental combinations that could produce a griffe, as infamously calculated by Moreau.

Alternative forms

• grif

Coordinate terms

• (person of mixed race): see list in mulatto

References

• “griffe”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French griffe, either deverbal from griffer, which see, or through an unattested Old French noun from Old High German grif, from Proto-Germanic *gripiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁif/

• Audio:

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Noun

griffe f (plural griffes)

1. claw

   coup de griffe ― swipe of the claws

   Les pattes de cet animal sont armées de griffes.

   The paws of this animal have claws.

2. talon
3. scratch mark
4. (figurative) signature (characteristic mark, e.g. of an artist)

   Il a beau n’avoir pas mis son nom à cet ouvrage, il y a mis sa griffe.

   Even though he has not put his name on this work, he has put his mark.

5. (by extension) brand, designer label (especially fashion)

Descendants

• → Portuguese: grife
• → Italian: griffe
• → Polish: gryf

Verb

griffe

1. inflection of griffer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “griffe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

German

Verb

griffe

1. first/third-person singular subjunctive II of greifen

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from French griffe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡrif.fe/
• Rhymes: -iffe
• Hyphenation: grìf‧fe

Noun

griffe f (invariable)

1. designer label

Noun

griffe f

1. plural of griffa

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɡriːf.fɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɡrif.fe]

Noun

grīffe

1. ablative singular of grīps

Middle High German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈɡrifːə/

Verb

griffe

1. inflection of grīfen:
   1. second-person singular past indicative
   2. first/third-person singular past subjunctive