What does chaff mean?
Word: Chaff
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Chaff means the outer cases that are separated from the seeds of cereal crops before the grain is eaten.
Synonyms: husks
Word origin: From Old English ceaf, an early word for the waste of threshed grain.
How do you spell chaff?
Syllables: chaff
Tricky part: The word ends in a double f. Cut it to one and you get chaf, which looks short enough to be right but is not.
Watch out for: chaf, chaph
Memory tip: Give it the same close as staff and cliff, two more short words that never make do with one f.
Idioms and Phrases
- separate the wheat from the chaff: to pick out the people or things that are good from those that are not Example: "The art teacher looked through two hundred posters to separate the wheat from the chaff before the exhibition."
Chaff in a sentence
Example 1: Nanaji swept the chaff into a heap behind the barn and covered it with an old sheet.
Example 2: Tiny bits of chaff clung to Arjun's shirt after a morning on his uncle's farm.
Example 3: The miller sieved the grain twice so that no chaff was left in it.
Fun Fact
Chaff is not always thrown away: in many villages it is used to feed cattle, as bedding for animals or mixed with mud to strengthen walls.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Champ
Choose the correct word for the blank:
On a breezy afternoon, the farmer tossed the rice on a bamboo tray so that the wind carried away the ___.
a) hay
b) stubble
c) fodder
d) chaff
Show answer
d) chaff. Tossing grain in the wind is winnowing, and what blows away is chaff; stubble stays in the field.
Word Twins
Choose the correct option to fill both blanks:
1. These stiff new sandals ___ the back of my ankles when I walk fast. 2. The poultry farmer spread a thick layer of rice ___ over the floor of the hen house.
a) 'chafe' in both
b) chaff/chafe
c) 'chaff' in both
d) chafe/chaff
Show answer
d) chafe/chaff. Chafe is a verb for rubbing against the skin, while chaff is the waste blown off threshed grain.
Spell Probe
Choose the meaning of the misspelt word in the given sentence:
Before the monsoon arrived, the farmers threshed the wheat in the open feild and left the chaff for the cattle near the cowshed.
a) to beat a crop so that its seeds come loose
b) the waste left over when grain is cleaned
c) an open area of land used for crops or animals
d) the season of heavy rain in South Asia
Show answer
c) an open area of land used for crops or animals. Field is the slip here: the i goes before the e, and nothing else in the sentence needs changing.
Jumble Tumble
What is the meaning of the word that can be formed from the given letters?
fhacf
a) the short stalks left in a field after cutting
b) a large heap of dried grass kept for animals
c) the dry outer waste left behind when grain is threshed
d) a long wooden handle used to beat grain
Show answer
c) the dry outer waste left behind when grain is threshed. The letters make chaff, the waste separated from the grain.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Threshing would leave chaff behind on a farm growing ___.
a) carrots
b) barley
c) onions
d) mangoes
Show answer
b) barley
2. Freshly threshed chaff is usually ___.
a) hard and shiny
b) sweet and juicy
c) wet and sticky
d) dry and papery
Show answer
d) dry and papery
