chaf

• caf, caff, caffe, chaff, chaffe, chef, kaf, kaff, schaf

Inherited from Old English ċeaf, *cæf, from Proto-West Germanic *kaf, from Proto-Germanic *kafą.

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃaf/, /t͡ʃɛf/, /kaf/

chaf (plural chaffes)

1. Chaff; the parts of harvested grain not usable as food, especially straw or husks.
2. (figurative) Something of little to no value or importance.
3. (figurative) An evil or immoral act or person; a sin or a practitioner of one.
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Matheu 3:12, page 2r, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     whos wynewing cloþ is in his hond .· ⁊ he ſchal fulli clenſe his coꝛn flooꝛ / and he ſchal gadere his wheete in to his berne .· but þe chaf he ſchal bꝛenne wiþ fier þat mai not be quenchid

     His winnowing fan is in his hand; he'll fully clean his threshing-floor, he'll gather up his wheat into his barn, and he'll burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.

4. (rare) Waste from food other than grains; rubbish or refuse.

• English: chaff
• Scots: caff
• → Irish: cabha

• “chaf, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-1-3.

• (North Wales) (standard) IPA^(key): /χaːv/
  • (North Wales) (colloquial) IPA^(key): /χaː/
• (South Wales) (standard) (colloquial) IPA^(key): /χaːv/
  • (South Wales) (colloquial) IPA^(key): /χaː/

chaf

1. Aspirate mutation of caf.