whiff

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “whiff”

Definition

1. 1
   A brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air; a waft.
2. 2
   A short inhalation or exhalation of breath, especially when accompanied by smoke from a cigarette or pipe.
3. 3
   A short inhalation or exhalation of breath, especially when accompanied by smoke from a cigarette or pipe.
4. 4
   An odour (usually unpleasant) carried briefly through the air.
5. 5
   A small quantity of cloud, smoke, vapour, etc.; specifically (obsolete), chiefly in take the whiff: a puff of tobacco smoke.
6. 6
   A flag used as a signal.
7. 7
   Any of a number of flatfish such as (dated) the lemon sole (Microstomus kitt) and now, especially, the megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis) and (with a descriptive word) a species of large-tooth flounder or sand flounder (family Paralichthyidae).
8. 8
   A slight sign of something; a burst, a glimpse, a hint.
9. 9
   A slight attack or touch.
10. 10
    A characteristic quality of something; a flavour, a savour, a taste.
11. 11
    A sound like that of air passing through a small opening; a short or soft whistle.
12. 12
    A failure to hit a ball in various sports (for example, golf); a miss.
13. 13
    A failure to hit a ball in various sports (for example, golf); a miss.
14. 14
    An expulsion of explosive or shot.
15. 15
    An outrigged boat for one person propelled by oar.
16. 16
    A sip of an alcoholic beverage.

Etymology

The noun is possibly: * partly a variant of Middle English wef, weffe (“bad smell, stench, stink; exhalation; vapour; tendency of something to go bad (?)”) [and other forms], possibly a variant of either: ** waf, waif, waife (“odour, scent”), possibly from waven (“to move to and fro, sway, wave; to stray, wander; to move in a weaving manner; (figuratively) to hesitate, vacillate”), from Old English wafian (“to wave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”); or ** wef (“a blow, stroke”), from weven (“to travel, wander; to move to and fro, flutter, waver; to blow something away, waft; to cause something to move; to fall; to cut deeply; to sever; to give up, yield; to give deference to; to avoid; to afflict, trouble; to beckon, signal”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Old English wefan (“to weave”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”)), or from wǣfan (see bewǣfan, ymbwǣfan); and * partly onomatopoeic. Noun sense 6 (“name of a number of flatfish”) is possibly derived from sense 1 (“brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air”), sense 4 (“small quantity of cloud, smoke, vapour, etc.”), and other such senses. The verb and adjective are derived from the noun. Verb sense 2.6 (“to catch fish by dragging a handline near the surface of the water from a moving boat”) is possibly derived from sense 1.1 (“to carry or convey (something) by, or as by, a whiff or puff of air”), sense 2.2 (“to be carried, or move as if carried, by a puff of air”), and other such senses. The interjection is derived from noun sense 7.4 (“a sound like that of air passing through a small opening; a short or soft whistle”).

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

• hwiff
• whfif
• whhiff
• whif
• wihff
• wwhiff

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of whiff - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "whiff", not the corpus desk frequency band.