حريف

From حَرْف‎ (ḥarf, “sharp edge”) from the root ح ر ف‎ (ḥ-r-f), or probably from Aramaic חריף‎ / ܚܪܝܦ‎ (ḥarrīp̄) found in broader meaning, also literally “sharp”, of smell, high-pitched voices, “current” in application to a silver coin etc., from the cognate root ח־ר־ף‎ / ܚ-ܪ-ܦ‎ (ḥ-r-p) related to sharpness, probably related to Proto-Semitic *x̣arb- (“sharp blade”) whence Arabic حَرْب‎ (ḥarb, “war”), حَرْبَة‎ (ḥarba, “spear”), and also conceivable in the source of Aramaic-borrowed حُرْف‎ (ḥurf, “cress”), since cress is described as of mustard- to radish-like, slightly pungent to peppery taste and smell.

حِرِّيف • (ḥirrīf)

1. pungent, acrid (taste)
   • 850–861, علي بن سهل ربن الطبري [ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban aṭ-Ṭabarī], Oliver Kahl, editor, ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban aṭ-Ṭabarī’s Health Regimen or “Book of the Pearl” كتاب اللؤلؤة (Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies; 115), Leiden: Brill, published 2020, →ISBN, § 80–81, page 102:

     ‏إن من أراد الصحة فينبغي أن يقوم من نومه في السُبْع الأخير من الليل وليسبغ وُضُوءَه ويلبس أنظف ثيابه ويبدأ بحمد الله والتضرع إليه في حاجاته. ويستاك من أشجار مُرّة أو حِرِّيفة.‎‎

     He who desires to stay healthy should rise from sleep in the last seventh of the night, expand into a proper ablution, put on his tidiest garment, and begin by praising God and imploring him to provide help when needs befall. He cleans his teeth with a twig from bitter or pungent trees.

حِرِّيف • (ḥirrīf) m (plural حِرِّيفَات‎ (ḥirrīfāt))

1. (usually in the plural) spicy food, delicacies

From the root ح ر ف‎ (ḥ-r-f), compare اِحْتَرَفَ‎ (iḥtarafa, “to do professionally”).

حَرِيف • (ḥarīf) m (plural حُرَفَاء‎ (ḥurafāʔ))

1. (Tunisia, Morocco) customer, patron, client

   Synonym: زَبُون‎ (zabūn)