English

Interjection

yiff

1. (onomatopoeic, apocryphal) Representing the bark of a fox (especially while mating).
2. (of a person, informal) To express happiness, to state that something is sexy.

Noun

yiff ‎(usually uncountable, plural yiffs)

1. (informal) A bark.
2. (slang, informal) The act of yiffing.
   • 1996 July 14, j.serdy, “RFC: A Beginner’s Guide to TinySex on the FurryMuck”, in alt.fan.furry, Usenet, message-ID <4sbqit$cap@netaxs.com>:

     Of course the inverse is possible with all these possibilities, and you can be having a yiff with a partner in the room with you and be having a pleasant non-sexual conversation with another remote player through a page-conversation.

3. (slang, informal) Pornography of furries (fictional anthropomorphic animal characters).

   Do you draw yiff?

Translations

Verb

yiff ‎(third-person singular simple present yiffs, present participle yiffing, simple past and past participle yiffed)

1. (intransitive, apocryphal) To bark (said of foxes).
2. (intransitive, of a person, apocryphal) To bark like a fox (especially in a sexual way).
3. (transitive and intransitive, slang, informal) To have sex, to mate (said of animals, especially foxes).
   • 1997 October 17, StarChaser, “What to genocide”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack, Usenet, message-ID <3448af39.75668367@169.132.11.13>:

     Monsters snicker at me, succubi refuse to be seen with me, my dog tries to yiff my leg, shopkeepers say ‘No shirt, no shoes, no service’.

   • 1997 September 22, Locandez, “Hypothetical Question #3: acting natural”, in alt.lifestyle.furry, Usenet, message-ID <na.dab87347cd.a40040lyndale@argonet.co.uk>:

     And even if foxes are allowed to yiff more than once, I’d still have to wait for the vixen to come into heat.

   • 1997 September 23, MegaDog the Nettweiler, “Hypothetical Question #3: acting natural”, in alt.lifestyle.furry, Usenet, message-ID <1d3DsMAQZ$J0Ew2R@canismajor.demon.co.uk>:

     Well, i’ve witnessed male foxes queueing up to yiff one of my local vixens… repeatedly!

4. (transitive and intransitive, slang, informal) To propose cybersex.

Derived terms

• yiffy
• yiffer
• yiffable

Translations

References

• "Yiff", A Furry Glossary
• Definition of "yiff", Furtopia
• LittleFox’s own explanation of the etymology of "Yiff", Everything2, accessed on 2005-03-30 (bottom of page)

Anagrams

• iffy

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English ġif.

Conjunction

yiff

1. if
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Lydgate Fall of Princes:

     Yiff ther was lak, thou woldest crie & pleyne.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Lydgate Fall of Princes:

     And yiff that trust with pryncis wil nat tarie,
     Litil merueile thouh the peeple varie […]

   • (Can we date this quote?) Geoffrey Chaucer:

     […] That yiff that god that hevene and erthe made
     Wolde haue a love For beaute and goodness
     And womanhede and trouthe and semelynesse […]

Etymology 2

From Old English giefan.

Verb

yiff

1. Alternative form of yiven
   • 1393, Jean d’Arras Roman de Melusine:

     Another ordre to you yiff I shall,
     A knyght will you mak of full hye degre
     As your brethren ben named ryght roiall.