TIFFとは 意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /tɪf/
• 韻: -ɪf

語源 1

The origin of the noun is unknown; it is possibly originally dialectal and may be onomatopoeic, representing the sound of a small puff of air or gas. The verb is derived from the noun.

名詞

tiff (plural tiffs) (informal)

1. A (generally small) argument or disagreement; a petty quarrel, a spat.

   Synonym: (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland, dated) tift

   • 1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XV. Lady G[randison] to Miss Byron.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 94:

     My Lord and I have had another little—Tiff, ſhall I call it? It came not up to a quarrel. Married people vvould have enough to do, if they vvere to trouble their friends every time they miſunderſtood one another.

   • 1839 May – 1840 February, Ikey Solomons, Jun. [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Catherine: A Story. Chapter the Last.”, in Catherine: A Story. Little Travels. The Fitz-Boodle Papers. etc. etc. (Works of William Makepeace Thackeray in Twenty-four Volumes; 22), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1869, →OCLC, page 157:

     There's Tom, now, since this tiff with Mrs. Cat, the scoundrel plays the Grand Turk here!

   • 1868, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Meg goes to Vanity Fair”, in Little Women: […], 1st part, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1869, →OCLC, page 139:

     [T]he blithe young couple were a pleasant sight to see, as they twirled merrily round and round, feeling more friendly than ever after their small tiff.

   • 1997, Haruki Murakami, “Full Moon and Eclipse of the Sun: On Horses Dying in the Stables”, in Jay Rubin, transl., The Wind-up Bird Chronicle […], London: Harvill Secker, published 2010, →ISBN, page 30:

     I had lived with her all this time, unaware how much she hated these things. In themselves they were trivial. Stupid. Something to laugh off, not make a big issue out of. We'd had a little tiff and would have forgotten about it in a couple of days.

   • 2000 September 29, Guy Browning, “How to … have a tiff”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2 September 2025:

     Lovers' tiffs are very amusing in that new lovers expect their little universe to be 100% perfect. […] At the other extreme, couples who are married with children have heavily disguised tiffs. A man saying in a slightly strained way, 'I'm going to turn the compost', is actually saying, 'And that's all you are, Jean, compost!' Of course, what happens is eventually he apologises, they cry, make love, have another child, get overtired and the tiffing continues.

   • 2013 June 18, Alexandra Topping, Ben Quinn, quoting Charles Saatchi, “Charles Saatchi: accepting police caution was better than the alternative”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 March 2024:

     "About a week ago we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella [Lawson]'s neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasise my point," he said. "There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. […]"

   • 2024 December 10, Ronald Mann, “Case Preview: Federal Trademark Law and Doctrines of Corporate Identity”, in SCOTUSblog‎, archived from the original on 19 June 2025:

     These were the days before Elon Musk's tiff with a Delaware judge raised the prospect of the federalization of corporate law.

2. (archaic) A brief outburst or period of bad temper; a snit; also (rare) any brief outburst (for example, of laughter).
   • 1739, Friderick Dedekindus [i.e., Friedrich Dedekind], chapter I, in Roger Bull [pseudonym], transl., Grobianus; or, The Compleat Booby. An Ironical Poem. […], London: […] T. Cooper, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 102:

     [A]s if / Returning homevvards in a furious Tiff; / Your Hoſt declares, he's ſorry at his Heart, / And humbly acts the penitential Part.

   • 1858, Thomas Carlyle, “England Sends the Excellency Hotham to Berlin”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book VII, pages 148–149:

     Wilhelmina […] answered his romances and him with tiffs of laughter, in a prettily fleeting manner.

派生語

• lovers' tiff
• tiffish
• tiffy
• tift (possibly)

動詞

tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)

1. (intransitive, informal) To be involved in a (generally small) argument or disagreement; to squabble.

   Synonyms: spat, (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland, dated) tift; see also Thesaurus:squabble

   • 1846, Walter Savage Landor, “[Miscellaneous.] [Poem] CCXLII. New Style.”, in The Works of Walter Savage Landor. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 660, column 2:

     I very much indeed approve / Of maidens moderating love / Until they've twenty pounds; / […] / Until the twenty pounds were safe, / She tiff'd at Tim, she ran from Ralph, / Squire nodded … deuce a curtsy!

   • 1859, Francis Francis, “Music, Lights, and Ladies”, in Newton Dogvane. A Story of English Country Life. […], volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 129:

     Poor Newton! he little knew to what he owed that glance. The fact is, the Captain was late, and Miss Bowers tiffed.

語源 2

See TIFF.

名詞

tiff (plural tiffs)

1. (computer graphics file format) Alternative letter-case form of TIFF (acronym of tagged image file format).

語源 3

Probably a back-formation from or clipping of tiff(in) (“(light) midday meal or snack, luncheon”).

動詞

tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)

1. (intransitive, British India) Synonym of tiffin (“to eat a (light) midday meal or snack; to have lunch, to lunch”).
   • 1841 September–December, Captain [Henry Walter?] Bellew, “Memoirs of a Griffin. Chapter XIV.”, in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia, volume XXXVI (New Series), number 141, London: W[illia]m H[oughton] Allen and Co., […], →OCLC, page 71:

     Besides that one to which the permanent residence was attached, Mr. Augustus had several outlaying factories, which he visited from time to time, to superintend the manufacture of his indigo; at all of these he had little bungalows, or temporary abodes, where we tiffed and passed the heat of the day.

   • 1859, John Lang, “The Himalaya Club”, in Wanderings in India: And Other Sketches of Life in Hindostan, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, […], →OCLC, page 16:

     Go home, Jack. I will tiff with you to-day at half-past two.

関連する語

• tiffin

語源 4

The origin of the noun is unknown; it may be onomatopoeic, representing the sound of liquor being sipped. The verb is derived from the noun.

名詞

tiff (countable and uncountable, plural tiffs) (informal or slang, archaic or obsolete)

1. (countable) A small draught or sip of liquor (especially diluted or poor quality liquor) or punch.

   Synonyms: (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland) tift, (obsolete) whiff

   • 1751 December (indicated as 1752), Henry Fielding, “In which are Many Profound Secrets of Philosophy”, in Amelia, volume III, London: […] [William Strahan] for A[ndrew] Millar […], →OCLC, book VIII, pages 202–203:

     Come, Captain, let not your noble Courage be caſt dovvn; vvhat ſay you to a Glaſs of vvhite VVine, or a Tiff of Punch, by VVay of VVhet?

   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, page 174:

     "Good wife," said Skriegh, gathering up his mouth, and sipping his tiff of brandy punch with great solemnity […]

2. (uncountable) Liquor, especially diluted or poor quality liquor.

   Synonym: (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland) tift

   • 1823, [Walter Scott], “Introduction”, in Quentin Durward. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page xiii:

     By dint of drinking acid tiff, as above mentioned, and smoking segars, in which I am no novice, my Public are to be informed, that I gradually drank and smoked myself into a certain degree of acquaintance with un homme comme il faut [a proper man], one of the few fine old specimens of nobility who are still to be found in France; […]

派生語

• tift (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland)

動詞

tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)

1. (transitive, informal or slang, archaic or obsolete) To drink (liquor), especially slowly or in small amounts; to sip.
   • 1821, [William Combe], “Canto XXXVII”, in The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of a Wife, a Poem, London: R[udolph] Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, […], →OCLC, page 244:

     Nor did the Doctor fail to go / To the bright region of the Row; / There tiff'd his punch and talk'd and smok'd, / Was sometimes grave and sometimes jok'd; […]

派生語

• tift (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland)

語源 5

From 中期英語 tiffen, tif, tiffe (“to adorn, dress up; to arrange (a hairstyle); to disguise”), from Old French tifer, tiffer (“to adorn, dress up”) (modern French attifer (“to deck out”)), from Frankish *tipfōn, *tippōn (“to decorate”), possibly related to Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“plait of hair, tuft; summit, top”) (see the further etymology at that entry).

The noun is derived from the verb.

動詞

tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed) (chiefly informal, obsolete)

1. (transitive, reflexive) To deck out or dress (someone or oneself, or their body or hair).
   • 1763, Edward Search [pseudonym; Abraham Tucker], “Freewill, Foreknowledge, and Fate. A Fragment.”, in [The Light of Nature Pursued], London: […] R[obert] and James Dodsley, […], →OCLC, §. 21, page 98:

     Is the Miſs under a force vvhen ſhe culls among her trinkets vvith curious toil to tiff herſelf out in the most engaging manner, or teazes pappa for money to buy a nevv-faſhioned ſilk?

2. (intransitive) To deck out or dress one's body or hair.
   • 1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act II, pages 26–27:

     I never pin up my Hair vvith Proſe. I fancy ones Hair vvou'd not curl if it vvere pinn'd up vvith Proſe. […] Ay, poor Mincing tift and tift all the morning.

派生語

• tiffing (noun)
• tiffle (“to act aimlessly, idly, or frivolously, to fiddle, trifle”) (obsolete except UK, dialectal)

名詞

tiff (plural tiffs)

1. (obsolete, rare) The way in which one's body or hair is decked out or dressed.

   (way one’s body is dressed): Synonyms: (chiefly US, informal) getup, outfit

   • 1703, “The Levellers: A Dialogue between Two Young Ladies, Concerning Matrimony, […]”, in Samuel Johnson, William Oldys, editors, The Harleian Miscellany: […], volume V, London: […] T[homas] Osborne, […], published 1745, →OCLC, page 419, column 2:

     Did you mark the beau Tiff of his VVig, vvhat a deal of Pains he took to toſs it back, vvhen the very VVeight thereof vvas like to dravv him from his Seat?

参照

Further reading

• Tiff (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “tiff”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “tiff, n. and v.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “tift, n., v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC: “A quarrel, altercation, dispute, […] A fit of ill-humour, a surly mood, sulks […]”.
• “tiff, n. and v.”, in Collins English Dictionary.

アナグラム

• fift