kerfuffle
noun
J. K. RowlingBelinda Luscombe
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The Evolution of Kerfuffle
Fuffle is an old Scottish verb that means “to muss” or “to throw into disarray”—in other words, to (literally) ruffle someone’s (figurative) feathers. The addition of car-, possibly from a Scottish Gaelic word meaning “wrong” or “awkward,” didn’t change its meaning much. In the 19th century carfuffle, with its variant curfuffle, became a noun, which in the 20th century was embraced by a broader population of English speakers and standardized to kerfuffle, referring to a more figurative feather-ruffling. There is some kerfuffle among language historians over how the altered spelling came to be favored. One theory holds that it might have been influenced by onomatopoeic words like kerplunk that imitate the sound of a falling object hitting a surface.
Examples of kerfuffle in a Sentence
Tim Spiers, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
The kerfuffle within Your Party has spawned endless jokes, memes, and obvious schadenfreude among its rivals.
—Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 4 Oct. 2025
The California Legislature couldn’t adjourn without a bit of a last-minute kerfuffle, this time over a bill dealing with veterans‘ benefits.
—Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Oc Register, 15 Sep. 2025
And another sanctions deadline of Friday has just whizzed past, almost unnoticed in the kerfuffle about Alaska and land deals.
—Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 9 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for kerfuffle
Cite this Entry
“Kerfuffle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kerfuffle. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.
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