Riffles

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A series of small waves or undulations on the surface of water
2. A type of shallow, fast-moving section in a river where the water flows over obstacles
3. To create small disturbances or movements in a material or fluid, often producing a ripple effect

Etymology: "Riffles" is the plural of "riffle," a noun for the small ripples that run across the surface of water. The noun's origin is murky. One proposed source is "ruffle," which in Middle English was "ruffelen," meaning to crumple, and a related Low German verb with the same sense. The link is plausible in form, since "riffle" looks like a slight alteration of "ruffle," but it is only a possible alteration rather than a settled one. Another line of thought connects the word to grooves and scoring. Related verbs, "rifle" (to score or make grooves) and "riffeln," carry the sense of cutting lines into a surface, and these are compared with a Danish word meaning "a groove." That Danish root is not firmly identified, so the link stays tentative. Taken together, the picture is of a word whose sense of ridged marks on water may have come either from crumpling or from the image of grooves, with the exact path still uncertain.