ruffiano

ruffiano (plural ruffianos)

1. (obsolete) A ruffian.
   • 1836, Foster's Cabinet Miscellany, page 227:

     […] the noisy boys in the streets, who constitute the ruffianos.

From roffia (“dirt”), from Old High German hruf (“eschar, crust”). Cognate with Icelandic hrufla (“to scratch”), English ruffle. Alternatively from Vulgar Latin *rufianus, from rūfus (“red”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /rufˈfja.no/
• Rhymes: -ano
• Hyphenation: ruf‧fià‧no

ruffiano m (plural ruffiani, feminine ruffiana)

1. pander, procurer, pimp

   Synonyms: magnaccia, protettore, lenone, pappone

2. bootlicker
3. sycophant
4. flunky
5. hanger-on

• arrufianarsi
• ruffiana
• ruffianata
• ruffianesco
• ruffianeggiare
• ruffineria

• → Catalan: rufià
• → Middle French: rufian
  • → English: ruffian
  • → Middle Dutch: ruffiaen, roffiaen
    • Dutch: roffiaan, roffiaen
• → Spanish: rufián