Riffian

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riff

(rĭf)

1. Music A short rhythmic phrase, especially one that is repeated in improvisation.

2. A repeated or varied theme, idea, or phrase: gave us another of his riffs on the decline of civilization.

intr.v. riffed, riff·ing, riffs

To play or make riffs. Often used with on.

[Origin unknown.]

Riff

or Rif (rĭf)

n. pl. Riff or Riffs or Rif or Rifs also Rif·fi (rĭf′ē)

1. A member of any of several Berber peoples inhabiting Er Rif.

2. The Berber language of this people.

Rif′fi·an adj. & n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

Riffian - a Berber living in northern Morocco

Riff

Berber - a member of an indigenous people of northern Africa

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References in periodicals archive ?

He hears the neighborhood boys talking about his family, the Riffian family who they say are criminals.

Book Review: A painful but resilient story of one boy's life in Morocco

In 1920, the Spanish colonial authorities ordered that the unruly Riffian tribes be under their control.

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Last but not least, the two ending chapters of this part introduce, each, real ethnographic cases, illustrating temporary female migrations through transnational family networks, one among Riffian Imazighen residents--Catalonia, the cases of Nadia and of Amina, and the other one a case study of skilled Polish migrant women in the UK, who have different opinions and perspectives on life outside the country and the desire o return.