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riff

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Etymology and origin of the English word riff

Pronunciation

riff1 musical phrase

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1933 Daily Texan
Ultimate origin
Anglo-Norman refreiner
Etymology tree of riff1
inherited borrowed derived
English refrain
English riff

Etymology

The musical phrase is of uncertain origin.[2][3][4] Most dictionaries think it probably a shortening, with a change of vowel, from English refrain (“a repeated phrase or chorus”),[5][6][7][8][9][2] a word that Word Origins notes was rare before the 19th century.[8] Barnhart, Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford take it instead from riffle,[4][3][10] and the American Heritage Dictionary calls its origin unknown.[11] The verb, to play riffs, is from the noun;[2][3][4] the OED finds riffing very slightly earlier than the noun itself.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In jazz, a short repeated phrase: 1933, in the Daily Texan of the University of Texas.[2] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1935, and report jazz musicians' statements that it had been in use since about 1917.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb is recorded from 1935 in the OED,[2] by 1942 in Etymonline,[3] from 1948 in Merriam-Webster;[5] Barnhart's first record is from 1955.[4] In African American slang the noun was soon used more widely: for a state of affairs (1938), one's personal style or line of talk (1944), and a theme or cause (1957), and the verb meant to chatter or talk (1944).[12] In general use the noun has meant a repeated idea or an improvised variation on a theme since 1952, when the verb also took the sense of improvising on a subject, in a letter of Ralph Ellison's.[2] A riff is now often a quick, clever stretch of talk, as by a comedian or a disc jockey.[5][13]

Timeline

  • 1933 – noun, a short repeated phrase in jazz.[2]
  • 1935 – verb, to play riffs.[2]
  • 1938 – slang, a state of affairs.[12]
  • 1944 – slang verb, to chatter, talk.[12]
  • 1952 – a repeated idea; an improvisation on a theme; verb, to improvise on a subject.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. In jazz, rock and pop music, a short repeated phrase or figure, often strongly rhythmic, played behind a solo or used as the basis of a piece: The song is built on a three-note guitar riff.[13][6][5][2]
  2. A quick, clever, often improvised piece of talk, as by a comedian; a variation on a theme: a long riff on modern manners.[13][5][2]

Verb

  1. To play riffs.[13][6][5]
  2. To talk at length, or improvise amusingly, on a subject: The host riffed on the morning's headlines.[5][6][2]

riff2 to leaf through

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1942 New York Times Book Review
Ultimate origin
English riffle

Etymology

The verb meaning to leaf quickly through pages is a clipping from English riffle,[5][2] which the OED calls ultimately imitative of the sound of pages being flicked through.[2] The noun, a quick look through pages, is likewise shortened from the noun riffle.[2] Riffle itself is of uncertain origin, perhaps an alteration of ruffle influenced by ripple;[5][3][4] its senses of shuffling cards and of leafing through pages are recorded from 1894 and 1922.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

With through: to leaf quickly through pages or the like: 1942, in the New York Times Book Review.[2][5]

Timeline

  • 1942 – verb, to leaf quickly through something.[2][5]
  • 1960 – noun, a quick look through pages.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To leaf quickly through pages, papers or cards; to skim: She riffed through the file looking for the receipt.[5][2]

Noun

  1. A quick look through pages, papers or the like.[2]

Usage notes

Several other words spelled riff are obsolete or regional: a chink or rift (1577–1750), a skin disease such as mange (from 1579, now dialect), and the diaphragm (1631–56), a back-formation from midriff.[2][10][5] Riff is also a member of the Berber people of the Rif region of Morocco, from 1853.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  12. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Cite this entry

“Riff.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/riff. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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