griffe
See also: Griffe and griffé
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡɹɪf/
- Rhymes: -ɪf
Etymology 1
From French griffe (“claw”).
Noun
griffe (plural griffes)
- A claw-like ornament at the base of a column.
- 2013, Russell Sturgis; Francis A. Davis, Sturgis' Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture and Building: An Unabridged Reprint of the 1901-2 Edition, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 323:
- The primary use of this is to give the column a broader base and to diminish the amount of the cutting away of the solid stone. The griffe, however, is often used for elaborate ornamentation, being carved into vegetable or even animal form.
-
Etymology 2
From Cajun French (in period American English usage) and from general French griffe (in reference to such people in e.g. Haiti), perhaps from (American) Spanish grifo (supposedly "curly-haired").[1]
Noun
griffe (plural griffes)
- (chiefly US, dialectal, dated or historical) A person of mixed (black and white) race, especially the offspring of a mulatto (person of mixed black and white ancestry) and a person of fully black ancestry.
- 2017, Terry Rey, The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:
- Saint-Domingue's complex system of racial classification allowed for no fewer than eight “mixed” racial parental combinations that could produce a griffe, as infamously calculated by Moreau.
-
Alternative forms
- grif
Coordinate terms
- (person of mixed race): see list in mulatto
References
- griffe in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- “griffe”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
French
Etymology
From Middle French griffe, either deverbal from griffer, which see, or through an unattested Old French noun from Old High German grif, from Proto-Germanic *gripiz.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡʁif/
audio (file) Audio (Paris) (file)
Noun
griffe f (plural griffes)
- claw
- coup de griffe ― swipe of the claws
- Les pattes de cet animal sont armées de griffes.
- The paws of this animal have claws.
- talon
- scratch mark
- (figurative) signature (characteristic mark, e.g. of an artist)
- Il a beau n’avoir pas mis son nom à cet ouvrage, il y a mis sa griffe.
- Even though he has not put his name on this work, he has put his mark.
- (by extension) brand, designer label (especially fashion)
Descendants
- → Brazilian Portuguese: grife
- → Italian: griffe
- → Polish: gryf
Verb
griffe
- inflection of griffer:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “griffe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
German
Verb
griffe
- first/third-person singular subjunctive II of greifen
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from French griffe.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡrif.fe/
- Rhymes: -iffe
- Hyphenation: grìf‧fe
Noun
griffe f (invariable)
- designer label
Noun
griffe f
- plural of griffa