jaffa
English · Français · Deutsch · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
Jaffa¹
- /ˈd͡ʒɑfə/ US
- /ˈd͡ʒæfə/ UK
Rhymes with -æfə
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Arabic يَافَا (yāfā), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew יָפוֹ (yāfō).
proper noun Joppa · Yafo
- A port in western Israel.
noun Jaffas · Joppa · Yafo
- A Jaffa orange. They were together, at the flicks on Saturday night, eating Jaffas and smiling at each other occasionally in the dark.
jaffa²
- /ˈd͡ʒæfə/
Where it comes from
From Jaffa, an ancient port city in Israel from which the oranges were exported. The sense "impotent male" is a reference to being "seedless"; see seed.
The cricketing sense, of a 'sweet ball' (from the bowler's perspective), is a metaphor further reinforced in Australian English where Jaffa is also a trademark for a popular lolly that is red and round.
noun jaffas
- A type of sweet orange, normally seedless.
- An impotent or infertile male.
- A ball that is very difficult for the batsman to hit because it moves erratically either through the air or off the pitch
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: yafo, joppa, hebron, jerusalem, tel, jaffee, aviv, haifa, tel aviv-jaffa, tel aviv, tel aviv-yafo, atlit, jericho, ashdod, kfar aza, safed
Translations
Talk about this word "jaffa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/jaffa. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. jaffa. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/jaffa "jaffa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/jaffa.Cite this
@misc{jaffa_2026,
title = {jaffa},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/jaffa},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
