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ruffle

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Etymology and origin of the English word ruffle

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɹʌfəl/[1]

ruffle1 disorder, frill

Confidence
Unknown
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1325 before 1325, Cursor Mundi
Inherited from
Middle English ruffelen

Etymology

The word for disordering or wrinkling is inherited from Middle English ruffelen, also roffelen,[2][3][4][5] of unknown or uncertain origin.[6][7][4][8] The OED suggests a frequentative formation in -le with an uncertain first element.[8] Similar words are found in Low German and Scandinavian: Low German ruffelen (“to crumple, wrinkle, curl”),[5][3][4][9] Middle Low German ruffelen (“to rub, scrub”),[8] Dutch roffelen (“to work roughly”)[3][8] and Old Norse hrufla (“to scratch”),[3][4][8][2] but their relation to the English word and to each other is uncertain.[4][3] The Middle English Dictionary suggests a Norse origin, comparing also Middle Dutch ruyffelen,[2] which the OED records in Dutch in 1599 meaning to wrinkle.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put something into disorder or confusion, to tangle: in the Cursor Mundi, composed before 1325,[8][3] where Barnhart glosses it as to stir up or poke about.[3] Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century, in the sense "to disturb the smoothness or order of".[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb was used of hair becoming ruffled, of poking about among things, and of entangling.[2] Disarranging hair or feathers is recorded from about 1450 or 1490,[3][8][4] a bird raising its feathers from 1605,[8] the general sense "to make uneven, disorder" from 1528[8][3] and rumpling cloth or skin from 1530.[8] The figurative sense "to annoy, vex, disconcert" appears in the 1650s.[4][3][6] From 1440 ruffle also meant to contend or quarrel, and in 1484 it is first recorded meaning to swagger or bluster;[8][2] the OED treats these senses as of uncertain, perhaps expressive, origin and hard to tell apart from figurative uses of the verb "to disorder",[8] and Klein takes them as probably the same in origin.[9] The noun, from the verb, meant disorder or confusion from 1533 and a disturbed state of mind soon after;[8][3] the concrete sense, a strip of lace or fabric gathered into a frill, is recorded from 1659,[8] or 1707 according to Barnhart and Etymonline.[3][4] Johnson (1755) defined the noun first as plaited linen used as an ornament, then as disturbance or tumult.[10] In slang, ruffles were handcuffs from 1776,[8] and to ruffle someone was to handcuff him in 19th-century underworld use.[11] In Scots the verb meant to insult or threaten and the noun a skirmish, and in North Yorkshire the verb meant to graze the skin.[12]

Timeline

  • before 1325 – to put into disorder or confusion; to tangle.[8][3]
  • 1440 – to contend or quarrel (obsolete).[8][2]
  • c. 1450 – of hair, to rise unevenly, to be ruffled.[8][2][3]
  • 1484 – to swagger or bluster (archaic by the 19th century).[8]
  • 1490 – to disarrange hair or feathers.[8]
  • 1528 – to disorder, to make uneven.[8][3]
  • 1530 – to rumple cloth or skin.[8]
  • 1533 – noun, disorder or confusion (obsolete by 1712).[8][3]
  • 1605 – of a bird, to raise its feathers.[8]
  • 1655 – a ripple on water or a break in an even surface.[8]
  • 1658 – to annoy, vex, disconcert.[3] Etymonline gives the 1650s.[4]
  • 1659 – a strip of lace or fabric gathered into a frill.[8] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1707.[3][4]
  • 1776 – in slang, handcuffs.[8]
  • 1872 – the riffling of playing cards.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To disturb the smoothness of; to make uneven or rumpled: A gust ruffled the surface of the pond.[5][13][8]
  2. To disarrange hair or feathers; of a bird, to raise its feathers in anger or display.[13][5][8]
  3. To upset the calm of; to annoy or irritate: None of the reporters' questions seemed to ruffle him.[5][13]
  4. To gather fabric into a ruffle, or to trim with ruffles.[13][8]
  5. To flick through cards or pages quickly with the fingers; to riffle.[13][8]
  6. (archaic) To swagger or behave arrogantly; to bluster.[8][6]
  7. (obsolete) To throw into confusion or perplexity.[5][8]

Noun

  1. A strip of lace or fabric gathered along one edge and used as an ornamental frill, as at the neck or wrist of a garment: a shirt with ruffles at the cuffs.[13][8]
  2. A disturbance of calm; irritation or vexation.[5][13][8]
  3. A ripple or unevenness on a surface.[5][13][8]
  4. (slang, now rare) In the plural, handcuffs.[8][11]

Word family

  • ruffler
  • ruffly
  • unrufflable
  • unruffle
  • unruffled
  • dust ruffle

ruffle2 drumbeat

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
1694 J. Muller, System of Camp-discipline

Etymology

The word for the drumbeat is probably imitative.[8][3][13] The OED takes it from a first element imitating a drum roll, as in ruff (1688), with an ending perhaps modelled on frequentative words in -le such as rattle and rumble.[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged derives the verb from ruff and -le,[5] and Barnhart takes the noun from the verb, which may be a frequentative of the earlier drumbeat word ruff.[3][14] The OED compares Dutch roffel (1688) and Portuguese rufla (before 1720).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rapid, vibrating drumbeat: 1694, in a text printed in J. Muller's System of Camp-discipline (1757).[8][5] Barnhart's first record of the noun is from 1779, or 1802 in the full edition.[14][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to beat a ruffle on a drum, followed in 1721 according to Barnhart, 1724 according to the OED and about 1734 according to Merriam-Webster Unabridged;[3][8][5] a Scottish intransitive use, of a drum sounding a ruffle, is rare and obsolete.[8][15] Merriam-Webster Unabridged describes the ruffle as a low drumbeat, less loud than a roll.[5] In West Yorkshire dialect ruffle meant to rattle or rumble, and Wright compared Dutch roffelen, to beat drums.[12]

Timeline

  • 1694 – a rapid, vibrating drumbeat.[8][5]
  • 1721 – verb, to beat a ruffle on a drum.[3][14] The OED's first record is from 1724.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A low, rapidly vibrating drumbeat, quieter than a roll.[5][8]

Verb

  1. To beat a ruffle on a drum.[5][8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Cite this entry

“Ruffle.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/ruffle. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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