jaffa
/ˈd͡ʒæfə/noun
jaffa is spelled J-A-F-F-A: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, jaffa means “A type of sweet orange, normally seedless” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of jaffa is jaffas.
How many letters and syllables are in jaffa?
| Letters | 5: J-A-F-F-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,649th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is jaffa?
Jaffa appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce jaffa?
- /ˈd͡ʒæfə/
Jaffa has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Jaffa.wav, En-au-jaffa.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of jaffa
- jaffas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does jaffa mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A type of sweet orange, normally seedless.
- 2
slangAn impotent or infertile male.
- 3
A ball that is very difficult for the batsman to hit because it moves erratically either through the air or off the pitch
noun
- 1
informalA Jaffa orange.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does jaffa come from?
From Jaffa, an ancient port city in Israel from which the oranges were exported. The sense "impotent male" is a reference to being "seedless"; see seed. The cricketing sense, of a 'sweet ball' (from the bowler's perspective), is a metaphor further reinforced in Australian English where Jaffa is also a trademark for a popular lolly that is red and round.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).