Ruffle comes from Middle English ruffelen ('to disturb, disorder'), of uncertain origin, possibly of Low German or Scandinavian origin akin to Old Norse hrufla ('to scratch'). Older glosses in the chain include "to disturb, disorder" and "to scratch", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, ruffle is best read as borrowing and uncertain formation, yielding an English verb and noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a verb and noun, with the sense "to disturb the smoothness of; to annoy; a gathered frill of fabric". English derivatives include ruffled, ruffling, ruffler, and ruffly; related forms include riffle and ripple. The result is an English verb and noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.