One way to hold this word: something smooth being pushed into small folds. A hand crosses combed hair, wind crosses still water, and the flat surface breaks into little . Sometimes the folds fall out again in a second. Sometimes they are sewn in and stay, and then they have a name of their own. Even a person's calm can be pushed that way — a flat surface, one small remark, and small .
From the word’s history
The supplied source traces ruffle to Middle English ruffelen, perhaps from Old Norse hrufla, to graze or scratch, or Middle Low German ruffelen, to wrinkle or curl, and links it to English ruff. The source itself says the further origin is unknown, so this is a possible route, not a settled one.
手上的來源說 ruffle 來自中古英文 ruffelen，可能跟古北歐語 hrufla（擦、刮）或中古低地德語 ruffelen（起皺、捲）有關，並且跟英文的 ruff（皺領）同一家。來源自己也說再往前就不清楚了，所以這只是一條可能的線，不是定論。
supplied packet: Wiktionary etymology for ruffle (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:976023267)
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