ripple

See also: Ripple

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

ripple

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

(UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪp(ə)l/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪpəl

Etymology 1

From an alteration of rimple.

Noun

ripple (plural ripples)

A moving disturbance, or undulation, in the surface of a fluid.
I dropped a small stone into the pond and watched the ripples spread.
- 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 239:
  What seamen call the "ripples" are also very violent in the straits, the sea appearing to boil and foam and dance like the rapids below a cataract; vessels are swept about helplessly, and small ones are occasionally swamped in the finest weather and under the brightest skies.
- 2009, Helen Oon, “New Territories”, in Hong Kong (Globetrotters Travel Guide)‎^[1], New Holland Publishers, →ISBN, page 80:
  Ripples in the water betray the presence of the fish waiting for a chance to pounce on the insects skirting over the water.
One of a series of corrugations in flat surface.
The ebbing tide had left ripples in the sand.
A sound similar to that of undulating water.
A style of ice cream in which flavors have been coarsely blended together.
I enjoy fudge ripple ice cream, but I especially like to dig through the carton to get at the ripple part and eat only that.
(electronics) A small oscillation of an otherwise steady signal.
(figurative) A small spreading change, impact, or effect produced by a larger or more consequential action.
- 2025 September 11, Kate Marvel, “‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:
  Investments in research, deployment and scaling existing technologies are the initial ripples that will have to build to a groundswell of further action.

Derived terms

Translations

moving disturbance or undulation in the surface of a liquid

Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Basque: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: рабізна́ f (rabizná), зыб m (zyb)
Catalan: ona (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 波 (zh) (bō), 波纹 (zh) (bōwén), (specifically, of water) 水波 (zh) (shuǐbō), (literary) 漣漪 / 涟漪 (zh) (liányī)
Czech: vlnka f, čeření n
Dutch: rimpeling (nl)
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Faroese: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: väre (fi), kare (fi), väreily
French: ondulation (fr) f
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Kräuseln n, kleine Welle f
Hawaiian: ʻaleʻale
Hebrew: אַדְוָה (he) f (advá)
Ingrian: kare, vire
Irish: cuilithín m
Italian: increspatura (it) f
Japanese: 漣 (ja) (さざなみ, sazanami), 漣漪 (ja) (れんい, ren'i), 砂紋 (ja) (samon) (usually when frozen, fossilized, or otherwise still)
Khmer: កង្កាញ់ (kɑŋkaɲ), អង្កាញ់ (km) (ɑŋkaɲ)
Korean: 물결 (ko) (mulgyeol), 연의(漣漪) (yeonui), 사문(沙紋/砂紋) (ko) (samun)
Macedonian: мрешкање n (mreškanje)
Manx: tonnane m
Māori: hāki, kare, pōkarekare, karetai, kōtaotao
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Navajo: yilkʼooł
Occitan: onda (oc) f, ondulacion (oc)
Plautdietsch: Wotawalkje n
Polish: zmarszczka (pl) f
Portuguese: ondulação (pt) f
Romanian: undă (ro) f
Russian: рябь (ru) f (rjabʹ), зыбь (ru) f (zybʹ)
Slovene: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: ondulación (es) f
Swedish: krusning (sv)
Tagalog: kilapsaw
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: dalgacık (tr), dalgalanma (tr)
Ottoman Turkish: طالغه (dalga), موج (mevc)
Turkmen: please add this translation if you can
Ukrainian: бри́жа (uk) f (brýža)
Vietnamese: gợn (vi), gợn sóng
Welsh: crych (cy) m, crychiad m

sound similar to that of undulating water

Bulgarian: ромон (bg) m (romon)
Czech: zurčení (cs) n, šumění n
Dutch: kabbelen (nl) n
Finnish: liplatus (fi)
Māori: orowaru
Russian: журча́ние (ru) n (žurčánije)
Serbo-Croatian: bućkanje n
Swedish: skvalp (sv) n

style of ice cream

Swedish: rippel (sv) c

small oscillation of an otherwise steady signal

Bulgarian: пулсация f (pulsacija)
Finnish: värinä (fi)
French: ondulation résiduelle f
German: Welligkeit f
Occitan: ondulacion residuala
Russian: колеба́ния (ru) n pl (kolebánija), пульса́ции (ru) f pl (pulʹsácii)
Welsh: crychiad m

Verb

ripple (third-person singular simple present ripples, present participle rippling, simple past and past participle rippled)

(intransitive) To move like the undulating surface of a body of water; to undulate.
Synonym: ruffle
(intransitive) To propagate like a moving wave.
- 2008, Bradley Simpson, Economists with Guns, page 65:
  These problems were complicated by a foreign exchange crunch which rippled through the economy in 1961-1962, […]
(intransitive) To make a sound as of water running gently over a rough bottom, or the breaking of ripples on the shore.
(transitive) To shape into a series of ripples.
(transitive) To launch or unleash in rapid succession.
- 2019, Jason M. Hardy, Phaedra M. Weldon, Herbert A. Beas II, BattleTech: Weapons Free: BattleCorps Anthology, Volume 3:
  Hearns' 'Mech rippled fifteen missiles. Austen watched the missiles go in. They smashed into a copse of trees, smashing the trunks aside.

Derived terms

unrippled

Translations

to move like the undulating surface of a body of water

Bulgarian: правя вълнички (pravja vǎlnički)
Catalan: onejar (ca)
Dutch: kabbelen (nl)
Esperanto: ondeti
Finnish: väreillä, karehtia
French: onduler (fr)
Ingrian: virehtiä
Macedonian: мрешка (mreška)
Māori: māhitihiti, pōkarekare, wiki
Old English: ȳþian
Polish: marszczyć się impf, zmarszczyć się pf
Portuguese: ondular (pt)
Spanish: ondular (es)
Turkish:
Ottoman Turkish: طالغه‌لانمق (dalgalanmak)
Welsh: crychu (cy),tonni (cy), crychdonni

to make a sound as water running across shallows

Bulgarian: ромоля (bg) (romolja)
Māori: wīwī
Welsh: please add this translation if you can

Etymology 2

From Middle English *ripelen, repulen, equivalent to rip +‎ -le (frequentative suffix).

Verb

ripple (third-person singular simple present ripples, present participle rippling, simple past and past participle rippled)

(transitive) To scratch, tear, or break slightly; graze
- 1609, Ammianus Marcellinus, translated by Philemon Holland, The Roman Historie, […], London: […] Adam Jslip, →OCLC:
  An horsemans javelin […] having slightly rippled the skinne of his left arme, pierced within his short ribs.

References

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

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Etymology 3

Compare German Low German Repel, Dutch repel, German Riffel, extended forms (with instrumental or diminutive -le) of Low German Repe (“ripple”), Dutch repe (“ripple”). Compare also Dutch repen, German reffen, Swedish repa (“to beat; ripple”).

The verb is from Middle English ripplen, rypelen. Compare Low German repelen, Dutch repelen, German riffeln.

Alternative forms

reeple, riple

Noun

ripple (plural ripples)

(textiles) An implement, with teeth like those of a comb, for removing the seeds and seed vessels from flax, broom corn, etc.

Related terms

hackle, brake, scutch, swingle

Translations

implement for removing the seeds from flax

Bulgarian: гребен (bg) m (greben)
Dutch: repel (nl) m
French: drège (fr) f
Galician: ripo, ripanzo m, ripa (gl) f
German: Riffel (de) f, Riffelkamm m
Italian: scapecchiatoio m
Romanian: darac (ro) n
Swedish: frörepa c, repa (sv) c
Welsh: rhipai m

Verb

ripple (third-person singular simple present ripples, present participle rippling, simple past and past participle rippled)

To remove the seeds from (the stalks of flax, etc.), by means of a ripple.

Etymology 4

Dialectal form of thripple.

Noun

ripple (plural ripples)

(dialectal, historical) thripple, cart ladder (extension for cart or wagon)

Derived terms

→ Welsh: riplen, riblen

Anagrams

Prilep, Rippel