- riff-raff
[riff-raff 词源字典]
- "Disreputable or undesirable people", Late 15th century (as riff and raff): from Old French rif et raf 'one and all, every bit', of Germanic origin. More rifle from Middle English:The Old French rifler meant both ‘to plunder’ and to ‘to scratch’. The plunder sense developed via ‘search for valuables’ into ‘to search thoroughly’ (mid 17th century). The word was then re-borrowed from French in the ‘scratch’ sense for the making of grooves in the barrel of a gun (mid 17th century). These rifled guns then became known as rifles (mid 18th century). Riff-raff (Middle English), formerly written as riff and raff, is probably also from rifler combined with raffler ‘to carry off’. The sense ‘disreputable person’ would have developed in much the same way as vulgar and hoi poloi.[riff-raff etymology, riff-raff origin, 英语词源]