raffish
/ˈɹæfɪʃ/
"raffish" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“raffish” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Characterized by careless unconventionality; rakish.
Corpus desk
Index EN-raffish · raffish · English
raffish · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" 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 | raffish |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈɹæfɪʃ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “raffish” in English
Rare enough to double-check
raffish is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈɹæfɪʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for raffish in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From late 18th century raff (“persons among the lowest class in society”) + -ish, still retained in contemporary English with riffraff. From Old French raffer (“to wear away”), of Germanic origin. Compare German raffen. Compare rip (“to tear”), rap (“to sna… The correct English form is raffish, spelled R-A-F-F-I-S-H.
Definition
- 1Characterized by careless unconventionality; rakish.
- 2Low-class; disreputable; vulgar.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how raffish appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Billie Eilish wants you to know she is in charge, brash and self-assured enough to scrap the raffish image that helped garner her a world of fans in favor of something a little more … adult.
The smokers' most raffish outsider, Comstock, appeared to do nothing but smoke; Chris had never seen him inside the building.
Etymology
From late 18th century raff (“persons among the lowest class in society”) + -ish, still retained in contemporary English with riffraff. From Old French raffer (“to wear away”), of Germanic origin. Compare German raffen. Compare rip (“to tear”), rap (“to snatch”).
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.