faff

English

Etymology

Originally imitative of wind or puffs of air (see verb senses "to blow in puffs", "to move with a puff of air"). The noun is formed from the verb by conversion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fæf/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æf

Noun

faff (plural faffs)

1. (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) An overcomplicated task, especially one perceived as a waste of time. [from 20th century]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nuisance

   Adjusting this television is a bit of a faff.

   • 2007 November 27, Hadley Freeman, “Miaow!”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     God it must be a faff 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”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Breakfast in bed at the royal household is a massive faff. 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 and faff meant Christmas had long since been drained of any joy and excitement.

   • 2023 September 23, Tim Hayward, “Not so easy does it”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 19:

     The show is a carefully curated manifesto of “social success without faff”.

2. (originally Northern England, typically 'in a faff') A state of confused or frantic activity. [from 1880s]

   Synonym: flap

   She's in a total faff about tonight's dinner party.

   • 2010, Margaret Forster, Isa & May, page 38:

     I knew May would be in a faff, and I was right. […] Half an hour later (still with plenty of time because I’d known there would be this fuss) we left with May clad in black.

3. (UK, obsolete) A puff of smoke; a gust of wind. [19th century]
   • 1900, Emma Frances Brooke, The Engrafted Rose: A Novel, page 27:

     “Shut t’ door, wilt-tu,” said Widow Goggin sharply; “thou’rt letting in faffs o’ wind. And tak’ thi shawl off.”

Translations

an overcomplicated task — see also hassle

• Dutch: gedoe (nl) n, soesa m
• French: galère (fr) f, corvée (fr) f
• Polish: bzdura (pl) f, głupota (pl) f
• Spanish: marrón (es) m, fastidio (es) m, lata (es) f

Verb

faff (third-person singular simple present faffs, present participle faffing, simple past and past participle faffed)

1. (originally Yorkshire, now colloquial, intransitive, of air) To blow in puffs, blow gently. [from 18th century]
2. (originally Yorkshire, archaic, transitive) To move (something) with a puff of air, to blow away. [from 19th century]
   • 1949, W.J. Halliday, Arthur Stanley Umpleby, The White Rose Garland, page 104:

     Time wi’ his scythe hed mawn t’crop on his heead, An’ then fafft it away wi’ his wing.

3. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, intransitive) To waste time on an unproductive activity. [from 19th century]

   Synonyms: arse around, (American) dick around

   • 2009, Steven Aitchison, 100 Ways to Develop Your Mind, page 131:

     Stop Faffing And Just Do It

   • 2025 February, Rick Lane, “Review: Planet Coaster 2”, in PC Gamer (US)‎^[3], number 392, page 69; published online 1 November 2024:

     Frontier knows you're going to be spending a lot of time building coasters and faffing with scenery, so it doesn't want you fighting fires constantly.

Derived terms

• faff about
• faffage
• faff around
• faffer
• faffery
• faff on

Translations

To waste time on an unproductive activity

• Swedish: fjockla (dialectal)

Cimbrian

Etymology 1

From Middle High German pfaffe, from Old High German pfaffo, phapho, from Latin papa, from Byzantine Greek παπᾶς (papâs), from Koine Greek πάπας (pápas), from Ancient Greek πάππας (páppas). Cognate to German Pfaffe, Dutch paap. Doublet of baabost.

Noun

faff m (plural faffen)

1. (Luserna, Sette Comuni) priest

   De faffen luughent naach dar zéel bon lòiten.

   Priests heal people's souls.

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

faff ?

1. (Luserna) lily (flower)

References

• “faff” in Martalar, 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