From a dialect word meaning "blow in gusts".
faff (pluralfaffs)
- (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Anovercomplicated task, especially one perceived as awaste of time.
- Synonyms:seeThesaurus:nuisance
Adjusting this television is a bit of afaff.
2007 November 27, Hadley Freeman, “Miaow!”, inThe Guardian[1]:God it must be afaff having to get nigh-on naked every time your bladder runneth over, and imagine how much worse it must be if you only have a 20-second break to run off stage to the loo.
2011, Patrick Kingsley, “Life with the Queen Mum revealed”, inThe Guardian[2]:Breakfast in bed at the royal household is a massivefaff. A page boy must carry the tray upstairs, but he's banned from actually serving it. So he leaves it on the floor by the bedroom door, whereupon a housemaid picks it up and knocks on said portal.
2017, Andi Watson,Glister,→ISBN:The fuss andfaff meant Christmas had long since been drained of any joy and excitement.
2023 September 23, Tim Hayward, “Not so easy does it”, inFT Weekend, Life & Arts, page19:The show is a carefully curated manifesto of “social success withoutfaff”.
- (typically in the phrase 'in a faff') A state of confused or frantic activity.
- Synonym:flap
She's in a totalfaff about tonight's dinner party.
an overcomplicated task
—see alsohasslefaff (third-person singular simple presentfaffs,present participlefaffing,simple past and past participlefaffed)
- (British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) Towaste time on an unproductive activity.
- Synonyms:arse around,(American)dick around
2009, Steven Aitchison,100 Ways to Develop Your Mind, page131:StopFaffing And Just Do It
To waste time on an unproductive activity
FromMiddle High Germanpfaffe, fromOld High Germanpfaffo,phapho, fromLatinpapa, fromByzantine Greekπαπᾶς(papâs), fromKoine Greekπάπας(pápas), fromAncient Greekπάππας(páppas). Cognate toGermanPfaffe,Dutchpaap.Doublet ofbaabost.
faff m (pluralfaffen)
- (Luserna, Sette Comuni)priest
Defaffen luughent naach dar zéel bon lòiten.- Priests heal people's souls.
(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium.)
faff ?
- (Luserna)lily(flower)
- “faff” inMartalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974),Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo
- Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013)Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
