Kerfuffle: noun a disturbance; a disorderly outburst or tumult. It is chiefly used in the United Kingdom, but it is well known and occasionally used in the USA and other English speaking countries.

It is still considered a slang word, and because of this it has many alternate informal spellings, including (but not limited to) kafuffle, cafuffle, cufuffle, curfuffle, and gefuffle. Kerfuffle has been well in the lead since the 1960s, although no one really knows why. Fuffle is sometimes used as a synonym.

It comes from the Gaelic word cur, meaning 'a twist' or 'a bend' and fuffle, a Scottish word with multiple meanings: as a noun it means 'a commotion' or 'violent exertion', and as a verb it means 'to put in disorder'.



Oops! It appears that curfuffle is already noded! This is a less common spelling (going by Google count), but it is also the spelling the Urban Dictionary uses. It is still much more common to see the spelling kerfuffle, at least in America.

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