toff

英[tɒf] 美[tɑf]

近义词

反义词

复数: toffs;

toff 纨绔子弟，花花公子

可能改写自 tuft,成簇，羽毛或丝线装饰品，原为 18 世纪中期时牛津大学校园俚语，用来指贵族家庭或老爸有较高社会地位的同学，因当时牛津或剑桥的贵族子女常在帽子上挂上金丝穗饰物来彰显地位。后进一步俚语化，用来指纨绔子弟或花花公子。

toff: toff: [19] Toff probably originated as an alteration of tuft [14], which was used from the 18th century as an Oxford University slang term for a ‘titled undergraduate’ (students who came from noble families wore a gold tassel or ‘tuft’ on their caps). Tuft itself was adapted from Old French tofe or toffe ‘tuft’, a word of Germanic origin.
=> tuft
toff (n.): lower-class London slang for "stylish dresser, man of the smart set," 1851, said by OED to be probably an alteration of tuft, formerly an Oxford University term for a nobleman or gentleman-commoner (1755), in reference to the gold ornamental tassel worn on the caps of undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge whose fathers were peers with votes in the House of Lords.