Other forms: ripples, rippling, rippled
A ripple is one of the small rings that spread out when something touches still water. Drop a stone in a pond and watch them travel; rain starts, and the whole puddle fills with them.
It works as a verb too: water ripples, a flag ripples on the mast, muscles ripple under the skin. Then comes the figurative use, which is everywhere — a ripple of laughter round the room, a ripple of unease through a crowd — meaning something small that spreads. The fixed phrase is the ripple effect, for consequences travelling outward: one factory closes and the ripple effect reaches every shop on the street. Size matters here: a ripple is tiny and a wave is big, so calling something a ripple says it barely disturbed the surface. You will also see it on food labels — ripple crisps, raspberry ripple ice cream — where it means a wavy band running through.
1nounrippleA small wave or ring spreading across the surface of water.
“A fish rose and left a ring of ripples behind it.”
2nounsoundA sound or feeling that spreads quickly through a group of people.
“A ripple of applause ran along the back row.”
3verbmoveTo move in small waves, or to make something do so.
“The wind rippled the surface of the lake.”
4nounwavyA wavy band of colour or flavour running through something.
“The ice cream had a dark ripple of raspberry through it.”
ripple is a small wave.
Also accepted in games: ripples
The record here is short. Ripple is an altered form of the older English word rimple: no long borrowing, no journey through other languages, just an English word that shifted its shape a little and kept its work.
From an alteration of rimple.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Nature & Weather, Swimming & Diving