About this episode

This episode explores the word 'raffish', its meaning, usage, and etymology.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 20, 2026 is: raffish • \RAF-ish\  • adjective Raffish describes people and things that show a careless but usually attractive unconventionality. // She didn't expect to like him but his raffish charm quickly won her over. See the entry > Examples: "Three or four decades ago, the newspaperman was appealingly raffish —at once a bum who drank too much and a knight-errant who charged unafraid at social injustice, succored the weak, and crossed lances with the powerful and arrogant." — David Wingrave, Harper's Magazine , 24 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Raffish combines the English noun raff with the suffix -ish , which in this case means "characteristic of": when we use the word raffish , we literally mean "resembling raff." But what exactly is raff? You might be more familiar with raff 's synonym, riffraff , which refers to disreputable people of low social status. Despite the resemblance, these two nouns are distinct in origin. Raff comes directly from the Middle English raf , meaning "rubbish," while riffraff descends from the Anglo-French rif e raf , meaning "altogether." The similarities between raff and riffraff prompted…

Topics covered

• language
• vocabulary
• adjectives
• etymology
• unconventionality

Keywords

• raffish
• adjective
• unconventionality
• etymology
• vocabulary

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Harper's Magazine

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