reef

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• rēf
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• /ɹiːf/
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• rhymes with -iːf
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• CMU ARPABET: R IY1 F Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English ref, hreof, from Old English hrēof (“rough, scabby, leprous", also "a leper”), from Proto-Germanic *hreubaz (“rough, scabby, scrubby”), from Proto-Indo-European *kreup- (“scab, crust”), related to Old English hrēofla (“leprosy, leper”). Cognate with Scots reif (“a skin disease leaving crusts on the skin, the scab”), Old High German riob (“leprous, scabby, mangy”), Icelandic hrjúfur (“scabby, rough”). Compare riffe, dandruff.

Borrowed from North German Reef, possibly related to Reep (“rope”), or otherwise from obsolete rif (“body”) (from Proto-West Germanic *hrif).

From earlier riff, from Middle English rif, from Old Norse rif (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Germanic *ribją (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Indo-European *h1rebh- (“arch, ceiling, cover”). Dutch rif (“reef”), Low German riff, reff (“reef”), German Riff (“reef, ledge”) are also borrowed from Old Norse. Doublet of rib.

From Middle English reef, from Old Norse rif, Middle Dutch rif, rēve, and/or Middle Low German ref. Possibly a figurative use of the word for “rib” in etymology 1 above, in which case all forms must, again, be borrowings from Old Norse. Alternatively it may be a different word related to Old English rift (“curtain, veil”), ārāfian (“to uncoil, wind off”).

129 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: rif — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Aleut: yas — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Arabic: شَعَاب (šaʕāb) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Armenian: խութ (xutʻ) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Belarusian: рыф (ryf) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Bulgarian: риф (rif) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Burmese: ကျောက်တန်း (kyauktan:) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Catalan: escull — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Chinese Mandarin: 礁 (jiāo) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Chinese Mandarin: 暗礁 (ànjiāo) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Czech: útes — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Dutch: rif — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Esperanto: rifo — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Estonian: riff — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Fijian: cakau — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Finnish: riutta — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Finnish: karikko — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Finnish: särkkä — rocks at or near surface of the water
• French: écueil — rocks at or near surface of the water
• French: récif — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Galician: recife — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Galician: sirte — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Galician: pedrido — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Galician: restinga — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Galician: cón — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Galician: farallón — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Galician: bortoa — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Galician: brica — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Galician: camouco — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Georgian: რიფი (ripi) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• German: Riff — rocks at or near surface of the water
• German: Felsenriff — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Greek: ύφαλος (ýfalos) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Greek: ξέρα (xéra) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Greek: ξέρη (xéri) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Greek: σκόπελος (skópelos) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Ancient Greek: σπιλάς (spilás) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Ancient Greek: σπίλος (spílos) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Ancient Greek: ἕρμα (hérma) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Hebrew: שׁוּנִית — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Hungarian: zátony — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Icelandic: rif — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Indonesian: terumbu — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Irish: scoth — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Irish: scairbh — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Italian: scogliera — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Italian: barriera — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Japanese: 礁 (shō) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Japanese: 暗礁 (anshō) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Kazakh: кедертас (kedertas) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Khmer: ថ្មប៉ប្រះទឹក (tmɑɑ pɑprah tɨk) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Korean: 암초 (amcho) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Korean: 초 (cho) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Macedonian: гребен (greben) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Malay: terumbu — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Māori: ākau — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Māori: pūkawa — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Māori: tau — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Persian: آبسنگ (âbsang) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Polish: rafa — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Portuguese: recife — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Portuguese: arrecife — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Portuguese: restinga — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Réunion Creole French: résif — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Romanian: recif — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Russian: риф (rif) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Serbo-Croatian: greben — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Serbo-Croatian: гребен — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Slovak: útes — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Slovene: grebén — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Spanish: arrecife — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Swedish: rev — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Tahitian: aʻau — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Thai: โขดหิน (kòht hĭn) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Turkish: resif — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Ottoman Turkish: قیا (kaya) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Ukrainian: риф (ryf) — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Vietnamese: đá ngầm — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Vietnamese: ám tiêu — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Volapük: kliped — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Volapük: klifakliped — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Welsh: creigres — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Welsh: rîff — rocks at or near surface of the water
• Afrikaans: rif — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Bulgarian: златоносна жила (zlatonosna žila) — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Czech: zlatá žíla — large vein of auriferous quartz
• French: filon — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Galician: vieiro — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Galician: vea — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Galician: filón — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Hungarian: ér — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Hungarian: aranyér — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Italian: filone — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Portuguese: filão — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Spanish: filón — large vein of auriferous quartz
• Afrikaans: rif — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Bulgarian: риф (rif) — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Catalan: ris — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Dutch: rif — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Finnish: reivi — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• French: ris — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Galician: rizo — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Italian: terzarolo — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Japanese: 縮帆 (shukuho) — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Māori: rīwhi — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Norman: ris — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Norman: ris d'vaile — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Norman: barre — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Russian: риф (rif) — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Scottish Gaelic: riof — arrangement to reduce the area of a sail
• Bulgarian: зарифявам (zarifjavam) — sailing
• Catalan: rissar — sailing
• Czech: podkasat plachtu — sailing
• Dutch: reffen — sailing
• Finnish: reivata — sailing
• French: prendre un ris — sailing
• French: arriser — sailing
• German: reffen — sailing
• Ido: refagar — sailing
• Italian: terzarolare — sailing
• Māori: rīwhi — sailing
• Norman: arrîsi — sailing
• Norman: rîsi — sailing
• Norwegian: reve — sailing
• Polish: refować — sailing
• Scottish Gaelic: riof — sailing
• Spanish: tomar rizos — sailing
• Swedish: reva — sailing
• Volapük: refön — sailing