draff
/dɹæf/
"draff" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“draff” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A byproduct from a brewery, a distillery, or both, often fed to pigs or cattle as part of their ration; often synonymous with distillers' grains, brewers' spent grains, or both (when not differenti...
Corpus desk
Index EN-draff · draff · English
draff · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | draff |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɹæf/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “draff” in English
Rare enough to double-check
draff is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /dɹæf/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A byproduct from a brewery, a distillery, or both, often fed to pigs or cattle as part of their ration; often synonymous with distillers' grains, brewers' spent grains, or both (when not differenti...".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for draff, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English draf, likely from an unrecorded Old English *dræf, from Proto-Germanic *drabaz. The correct English form is draff, spelled D-R-A-F-F.
Definition
- 1A byproduct from a brewery, a distillery, or both, often fed to pigs or cattle as part of their ration; often synonymous with distillers' grains, brewers' spent grains, or both (when not differentiated); usually differentiated from potale, at least in technical use, although broad, nontechnical use has often lumped all such byproducts together, especially in the past.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how draff appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonyms: brewers' spent grains, BSG, distillers' grains
[…] and thence ſprouteth that obſcene appellation of Sarding ſandes, with the draffe of the carterly Hoblobs thereabouts, concoct or diſgeaſt for a ſcripture, verity, when the right chriſtendome of it, is Cerdicke ſands, or Cerdick ſhore, […]
Etymology
From Middle English draf, likely from an unrecorded Old English *dræf, from Proto-Germanic *drabaz.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.