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griffe

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griffe¹

  • /ɡɹɪf/

Sounds like griff · Rhymes with -ɪf

Where it comes from

Borrowed from French griffe (“claw”).

noun griffes

  1. A claw-like ornament at the base of a column. 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.

griffe²

  • /ɡɹɪf/

Sounds like griff · Rhymes with -ɪf

Where it comes from

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").

noun griffes · grif

  1. US, dated, dialectal, 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. 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.

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MLA

"griffe." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/griffe. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

griffe. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/griffe

Chicago

"griffe." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/griffe.

BibTeX
@misc{griffe_2026,
  title = {griffe},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/griffe},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}