A very short moment of time; an instant or brief second.
Origin unclear, but possibly from 'giff' or 'jiff,' onomatopoeic words meant to sound quick. It emerged in colloquial English in the 19th century, possibly influenced by 'quick' or related to the sound of something moving fast.
In British English, 'in a jiff' became so common that it seems natural, but the word itself is technically slang with mysterious origins—yet we've all accepted it without questioning where it came from, which shows how some words just become part of our language through repeated use rather than official approval.
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