Common alternate spellings: trayf, treif.
Yiddish word, literally meaning 'torn'. Originally referred to the meat of any animal not killed by a Jewish butcher, or shochet. The shochet must do his slaughtering with one pass of a very sharp knife accross the throat (without tearing the muscles), thereby killing the animal very quickly, keeping its suffering to a minimum and also draining as much of the animal's blood (which a Jew is forbidden to eat) as possible. "Trayf" is now used in reference to any food that is not kosher--that is unclean--according to Jewish dietary law from the Torah.