jiffy

Meaning

1. (colloquial) A very short, unspecified length of time.
2. A unit of time defined by the frequency of its basic timer – historically, and by convention, 0.01 of a second, but some computer operating systems use other values.
3. The length of an alternating current power cycle (1/60 or 1/50 of a second).
4. The time taken for light to travel a specified distance in a vacuum, usually one centimetre (approximately 33.3564 picoseconds), but sometimes one foot or the width of a nucleon.
5. Short for jiffy bag, a padded envelope.

Synonyms

instant

moment

jiff

second

2nd

trice

twinkling

flash

split second

New York minute

blink of an eye

heartbeat

💓

wink

😉

minute

dot

whit

stop

🛑

a moment

spell

Hyphenated as

jif‧fy

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈd͡ʒɪ.fi/

Etymology

Origin unknown; said to have been thieves’ cant for “lightning”. Also formerly written "giffy", to which a connection with gliff has been proposed. As a kind of envelope, a genericization of Jiffy bag.