riffraff

See also: riff-raff

English

Alternative forms

riff-raff

Etymology

From Old French rif et raf (“one and all”), of Germanic origin. The first word is from rifler (“to scrape off”) and the last is from raffler, related to rafler (“to plunder”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪfɹæf/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Hyphenation: riff‧raff

Noun

riffraff (usually uncountable, plural riffraffs) (informal)

(somewhat derogatory) The rabble; crowds; people of a low, disreputable or undesirable class or position.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:commonalty

They started charging a modest fee in an effort to keep the riffraff out.
- 2013, “Only You” (20:08 from the start), in The Americans, season 1, episode 10:
  Agent Beeman (Noah Emmerich): I think we got him. / Special Agent Gaad (Richard Thomas): Who? / Agent Beeman: I-I-I don't know. The guy who killed Chris, the--the Russians, the whole damn thing maybe. / Special Agent Gaad: You want to sit down? / Agent Beeman: The guy from the salvage yard who hocked the ring, and he does business with some riffraff from the projects.
- 2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Nintendo 3DS, scene: ending:
  Mom: [Walks away with King Pridemoor.] / King Knight: 'MOM, WAIT! ..... MOM!! *SIGH* WELL, FINALLY, THE RIFF-RAFF... AND MY MOM, ARE GONE.'
Sweepings; refuse.

Derived terms

Related terms

raffish

Translations

the rabble

Arabic: رَعَاع m (raʕāʕ)
Catalan: gentalla (ca) f, trepa (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 廢物 / 废物 (zh) (fèiwù), 賤民 / 贱民 (zh) (jiànmín), 下等人 (xiàděngrén), 流氓 (zh) (liúmán), 烏合之眾 / 乌合之众 (zh) (wūhézhlzhòng)
Czech: lůza (cs) f, chátra (cs) f, sebranka (cs) f, pakáž f
Danish: pøbel c, pak (da) n
Dutch: geteisem (nl), schorremorrie (nl), tuig (nl), rapalje (nl), gepeupel (nl)
Estonian: rahvarämps
Finnish: rahvas (fi), roskaväki (fi)
French: racaille (fr) f, populace (fr) f, canaille (fr) f (dated), plèbe (fr) f, masses (fr) f pl, tout-venant (fr) m, commun des mortels (fr) m
Galician: xentualla f
German: Pöbel (de) m, Plebs (de) m, gemeines Volk n
Greek: αληταρία (el) f (alitaría)
Ancient: σύρφαξ m (súrphax), συρφετός m (surphetós)
Icelandic: pakk n, skríll (is) m, illþýði (is) n
Irish: sloigisc f, gramaisc f, daoscar m
Italian: tamarro (it) m, lazzarone (it) m, coatto (it) m
Japanese: 下層民 (かそうみん, kasōmin), 下層階級 (かそうかいきゅう, kasō kaikyū), 有象無象 (ja) (uzō muzō)
Portuguese: gentalha (pt) f, ralé (pt) f
Romanian: plebe (ro) f, gloată (ro) f
Russian: че́рнь (ru) f (čérnʹ), сбро́д (ru) m (sbród), бы́дло (ru) n (býdlo)
Serbo-Croatian: raja (sh) f, šljam (sh) m
Cyrillic: о̏лош m

Roman: ȍloš (sh) m
Slovak: chamraď f, zberba f, bagáž f
Spanish: gentuza (es) f, gentualla (es) f, (Chile) flaite (es) m, chusma (es), gente de baja estofa, gleba (es), picanterío m (Chile)
Swedish: pöbel (sv) c, kreti och pleti (sv), patrask (sv) n, pack (sv) n
Turkish: ayaktakımı (tr)
Volapük: lupöp (vo)
Welsh: poblach f, gwehilion c pl