straff

Etymology

From late Middle High German straf, cognate with Dutch straf, with further origin uncertain. However, a semantic connection Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter(h₁)- (“to be stiff; be rigid; exert”) (whence Proto-Germanic *staraz (“stiff”)) has been proposed (DWDS).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃtʁaf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: straff

Adjective

straff (strong nominative masculine singular straffer, comparative straffer, superlative am straffsten)

1. (also figurative) tight, firm, of an object that could also be slack

   ein straffes Programm ― a tight schedule

   • c. 1914, Franz Kafka, Der Prozess [The Trial], Berlin: Die Schmiede, published 1925:

     Er wandte ihm sein Gesicht zu, dessen viele straffe Falten nicht Alter, sondern Kraft zu beweisen schienen, und fing sofort wieder zu suchen an.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “straff” in Duden online
• “straff” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache