"griffe" meaning in English

See griffe in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ɡɹɪf/ Forms: griffes [plural]
Rhymes: -ɪf Etymology: From French griffe (“claw”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|fr|griffe||claw}} French griffe (“claw”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} griffe (plural griffes)
  1. A claw-like ornament at the base of a column.
    Sense id: en-griffe-en-noun-ZrR5lNN6
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /ɡɹɪf/ Forms: griffes [plural], grif [alternative]
Rhymes: -ɪf Etymology: 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"). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|frc|-}} Cajun French, {{bor|en|fr|griffe}} French griffe, {{der|en|es|grifo}} Spanish grifo Head templates: {{en-noun}} griffe (plural griffes)
  1. (chiefly US, dialectal, dated or 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. Tags: US, dated, dialectal, historical Coordinate_terms (person of mixed race): list in mulatto
    Sense id: en-griffe-en-noun--6cXVmJG Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, Multiracial, People, Racism Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 21 79 Disambiguation of Multiracial: 32 68 Disambiguation of People: 0 100 Disambiguation of Racism: 24 76
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "griffe",
        "4": "",
        "5": "claw"
      },
      "expansion": "French griffe (“claw”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From French griffe (“claw”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "griffes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              132,
              138
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Russell Sturgis, Francis A. Davis, Sturgis' Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture and Building: An Unabridged Reprint of the 1901-2 Edition, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 323:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A claw-like ornament at the base of a column."
      ],
      "id": "en-griffe-en-noun-ZrR5lNN6",
      "links": [
        [
          "claw",
          "claw"
        ],
        [
          "column",
          "column"
        ]
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡɹɪf/"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "griff"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪf"
    }
  ],
  "word": "griffe"
}

{
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  "forms": [
    {
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  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
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          "_dis": "32 68",
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          "orig": "en:Multiracial",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "0 100",
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          "_dis": "24 76",
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          "orig": "en:Racism",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
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          "sense": "person of mixed race",
          "word": "list in mulatto"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              147,
              153
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017, Terry Rey, The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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."
      ],
      "id": "en-griffe-en-noun--6cXVmJG",
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    "English terms derived from French",
    "English terms derived from Spanish",
    "English terms with homophones",
    "Middle High German entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle High German non-lemma forms",
    "Middle High German terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "Middle High German verb forms",
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        }
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        "A claw-like ornament at the base of a column."
      ],
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          "claw"
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          "column"
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  ],
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    "English terms borrowed from Cajun French",
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    "English terms derived from Cajun French",
    "English terms derived from French",
    "English terms derived from Spanish",
    "English terms with homophones",
    "Middle High German entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle High German non-lemma forms",
    "Middle High German terms with IPA pronunciation",
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    "en:Multiracial",
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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "griffes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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    },
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      "form": "grif",
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        "alternative"
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          "type": "quote"
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      ],
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        "US",
        "dated",
        "dialectal",
        "historical"
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      "ipa": "/ɡɹɪf/"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "griff"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪf"
    }
  ],
  "word": "griffe"
}

Download raw JSONL data for griffe meaning in English (4.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-06-01 using wiktextract (5ee713e and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.