jiffy
jif·fy/ˈd͡ʒɪ.fi/noun
jiffy is spelled J-I-F-F-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables (jif·fy). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,767th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, jiffy means “A very short, unspecified length of time” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of jiffy is jiffies.
How many letters and syllables are in jiffy?
| Letters | 5: J-I-F-F-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: jif·fy |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 44,767th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is jiffy?
Jiffy appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,767th 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 jiffy?
- US /ˈd͡ʒɪ.fi/
Jiffy has 2 syllables, split jif·fy in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-jiffy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of jiffy
- jiffies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does jiffy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
colloquialA very short, unspecified length of time.
I’ll be back in a jiffy.
- 2
A unit of time defined by the frequency of its basic timer – historically, and by convention, 0.01 of a second, but some computer operating systems use other values.
- 3
The length of an alternating current power cycle (1/60 or 1/50 of a second).
- 4
The time taken for light to travel a specified distance in a vacuum, usually one centimetre (approximately 33.3564 picoseconds), but sometimes one foot or the width of a nucleon.
- 5
UKEllipsis of jiffy bag, a padded envelope.
noun
- 1
Alternative form of Jiffy bag.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Jiffy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense very short, unspecified length of time:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | instant, moment, seconde |
| German | Moment, Augenblick |
| Portuguese | instante, momento, num piscar de olhos |
| Spanish | en un pispás, periquete, santiamén, tris |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does jiffy come from?
Origin unknown; said to have been thieves’ cant for “lightning”. Also formerly written "giffy", to which a connection with gliff has been proposed. As a kind of envelope, a genericization of Jiffy bag.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).