riffeln

Meaning

to groove (provide with narrow, parallel channels)
to ripple (remove seeds from the stalks of flax by means of a comb)

Hyphenated as

rif‧feln

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈʁɪfəln/

Etymology

From Middle High German riffeln, rifilen, from Old High German riffilōn (“to ripple, remove seeds from flax”), derived from riffila (“ripple”), from Proto-Germanic *ripilō, which is probably related to *rīpaną (“to harvest, reap”). Cognate with Dutch repel, English ripple. The sense “to cut grooves into” is from unrelated German Low German rieveln, riffeln, frequentative of Middle Low German rīven (“to rake”). Compare German Riefe (“groove”), Dutch rijf (“rake”), (obsolete) rijffelen (“to scrape”), Old Norse hrīfa (“rake”). These words are all rather related to Proto-Germanic *hrībaną (“to rake, scratch”).