ラフ
解説 Definition
（古語・まれ）価値のない物、がらくた、くず。また、軽蔑される無秩序な群衆。現在は主に riffraff の一部として残っている。
An archaic or rare noun for worthless material, rubbish, or a disorderly group of people regarded with contempt. It now appears mainly as part of the more familiar word riffraff.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
現代では単独の raff より riffraff「がらくたの寄せ集め、軽蔑される群衆」の中で出会うことが多い古風な語。中英語の rif and raf「くずも含めて何もかも」という組み合わせを背景に、価値のない物や雑多な人々を指す。人に使うと強い蔑称になる点も一緒に覚える。
Remember raff through the modern word riffraff. Historically, it referred to assorted rubbish or to people contemptuously treated as a worthless, disorderly crowd. Imagine someone sweeping miscellaneous scraps into one heap: the mixture, rather than any single object, is the central idea. In present-day English, raff alone is rare and archaic, while riffraff remains recognizable. Because both words can label people as socially inferior or worthless, they carry a strongly insulting tone and should not be used as neutral terms for an ordinary crowd.
例文
The old writer dismissed the noisy crowd as raff.
その昔の著述家は、騒がしい群衆を軽蔑して烏合の衆と呼んだ。
The sweepings were treated as worthless raff.
その掃きくずは価値のないがらくたとして扱われた。
raff の類義語・関連語
raff の語源・成り立ち Etymology
中英語 rif and raf（あらゆるくず）から。古フランス語 rif et raf（何もかも全部）に由来し、「寄せ集めの群衆・がらくた」を意味する。関連語 riffraff（烏合の衆）は同源の複合形。社会の底辺や無価値なものを指す蔑称として定着した。
Raff comes from Middle English expressions such as rif and raf, meaning assorted things, everything without distinction, or rubbish. These are associated with Old French rif et raf, a phrase conveying the idea of taking everything together. The separate element raff later referred to refuse or a contemptuously viewed crowd. It survives most clearly in riffraff, a reduplicative-looking compound meaning worthless material or disreputable people.
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