kerfuffle

English

WOTD – 11 February 2008

Alternative forms

• curfuffle, gefuffle, kafuffle, kerfluff, kerfluffle, kurfuffle
• fuffle (by apheresis)

Etymology

Probably from Scots curfuffle, equivalent to ker- +‎ fuffle, or related to Irish cior thual (“char athwart: confusion, disorder”). Similar to modern Welsh cythrwfl (“uproar, trouble, agitation”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈfʌfəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɚˈfʌfəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌfəl

Noun

kerfuffle (plural kerfuffles)

1. (chiefly Britain, informal) A disorderly outburst, disturbance, commotion, or tumult.

   Synonyms: brouhaha, fracas, hubbub, hullaballoo, mess, racket

   • 2009 May 22, Stuart Heritage, “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”, Hecklerspray

     You know all this kerfuffle about Jordan and Peter Andre, and how you don’t know if they’re really splitting up or it’s just an act […]

   • 2011 June 6, Mark Memmott, “Sarah Palin's Had Her Say; Now Let's Hear From Paul Revere”, The Two-Way, National Public Radio

     There's been a bit of a kerfuffle the past couple days over something Sarah Palin said about Paul Revere.

Derived terms

• kerfluff
• kerfuffly

Translations

disorderly outburst

• Bulgarian: суматоха (bg) f (sumatoha)
• Catalan: aldarull (ca) m, commoció f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 混亂 (zh), 混乱 (zh) (hùnluàn), 動亂 (zh), 动乱 (zh) (dòngluàn), 鬧騰 (zh), 闹腾 (zh) (nàoteng), 吵鬧 (zh), 吵闹 (zh) (chǎonào)

• Czech: povyk m, rámus (cs) m
• Dutch: tumult (nl)

• Faroese: ófriður m, rok n
• Finnish: hälinä (fi), hässäkkä (fi)
• French: désordre (fr) m, tumulte (fr) m, brouhaha (fr) m
• German: Wirbel (de) m, Aufruhr (de) m, Theater (de) n, Durcheinander (de) n
• Portuguese: bafafá m, distúrbio (pt) m, tumulto (pt) m
• Russian: сумато́ха (ru) f (sumatóxa)
• Spanish: disturbio (es), descalzaperros m
• Swedish: ståhej (sv) n, uppståndelse (sv) c

Verb

kerfuffle (third-person singular simple present kerfuffles, present participle kerfuffling, simple past and past participle kerfuffled)

1. (chiefly Britain, informal) To make a disorderly outburst or commotion.