Word.ws English Dictionary

jaffa

/ˈd͡ʒæfə/US/ˈd͡ʒɑfə/

jaffa noun: a type of sweet orange, normally seedless.

Noun (1)

jaffa (plural jaffas)

  1. A type of sweet orange, normally seedless.
  2. (slang) An impotent or infertile male.
  3. A ball that is very difficult for the batsman to hit because it moves erratically either through the air or off the pitch

Proper noun capitalized: Jaffa

Jaffa

  1. A port in western Israel.

Noun (2) capitalized: Jaffa

Jaffa (plural Jaffas)

  1. (informal) A Jaffa orange.
    • They were together, at the flicks on Saturday night, eating Jaffas and smiling at each other occasionally in the dark.2005, Barbara Anderson, Collected stories

jaffa meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

jaffa in Hindi

जाफा, जाफफा, जाफ़ा

jaffa in Tamil

ஜாஃபா, ஜாஃப்ஃபா, ஜஃபா

jaffa in Marathi

जाफा, जफा, जाफ

jaffa in Urdu

جفا, جافا, جافّا
More languagesFewer languages
jaffa in Bengali
জাফা, জাফফা
jaffa in Telugu
జాఫా, జాఫ్ఫా, జఫ్ఫా
jaffa in Malayalam
ജാഫ, ജാഫാ
jaffa in Kannada
ಜಾಫಾ, ಜಾಫ್ಫಾ, ಜಫ್ಫಾ
jaffa in Punjabi
ਜੱਫਾ, ਜਾਫ਼ਾ, ਜਾਫਾ
jaffa in Gujarati
જાફા, જાફફા, જાફ
jaffa in Odia
ଜାଫା, ଜାଫ୍ଫା, ଜଫା
jaffa in Nepali
जाफा, जफा, जाफ

Forms of jaffa

Noun
pluraljaffas
pluralJaffas
Proper noun
alternative formJoppa
alternative formYafo

Origin of jaffa

From Jaffa, an ancient port city in Israel from which the oranges were exported. The sense "impotent male" is a reference to being "seedless"; see seed. The cricketing sense, of a 'sweet ball' (from the bowler's perspective), is a metaphor further reinforced in Australian English where Jaffa is also a trademark for a popular lolly that is red and round.

Borrowed from Arabic يَافَا (yāfā), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew יָפוֹ (yāfō).

Phrases with jaffa

Questions about jaffa

What does jaffa mean?
Jaffa means a type of sweet orange, normally seedless.
What is jaffa in Hindi?
Jaffa in Hindi is जाफा, जाफफा, जाफ़ा. See Jaffa meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is jaffa?
Jaffa can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce jaffa?
Jaffa is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒæfə/.
What is the plural of jaffa?
The plural of jaffa is jaffas.

Words near jaffa in the dictionary

  1. Jafari
  2. Jafaris
  3. Jafars
  4. JAFAs
  5. Jafeth
  6. jaffa
  7. Jaffa cake
  8. Jaffa cakes
  9. Jaffa orange
  10. Jaffa oranges
  11. jaffas

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jaffa (page history and authors); Jaffa (page history and authors); jaffa (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jaffa (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-jaffa.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Jaffa.wav.

Cite this entry: “jaffa.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jaffa. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.