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Etymology and origin of the English word bluff

English has two words spelled bluff, one or perhaps both of Dutch origin.[1][2]

Pronunciation

bluff1 steep bank; blunt, hearty

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1627 John Smith, Sea Grammar
Borrowed from
Dutch blaf

Etymology

The adjective, at first a sailors' word, is probably borrowed from Dutch blaf (“broad, flat”), now obsolete,[4][5][6][7] which is akin to Middle Low German blaff (“smooth, even”).[5][8] The OED notes that the Dutch word is known only from Kilian's dictionary of 1599, in blaf aensicht (“broad flat face”), and calls the origin uncertain;[9] Ayto finds no thoroughly convincing source, and Word Origins calls it unknown.[1][2] Klein and Skeat also compare Middle Dutch blaffaert, a man with a broad flat face.[8][10] Etymonline describes it as apparently a North Sea nautical term for ships with broad bows and flat, vertical stems.[4] The noun, a steep bank or cliff, is formed from the adjective.[9][7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a ship, having a broad, rounded bow rising almost vertically: 1627, in Captain John Smith's Sea Grammar.[9][7][5]

Semantic evolution

From ships the sense "with a broad, flat, upright front" spread to a coast with a bold, almost perpendicular face (1694) and, for a time, to a broad face or forehead (1665–87).[9] The noun, a cliff or headland with a broad steep face, was first used in North America, in South Carolina records (1666 as an attribute, 1687 as a noun), and is still used mostly of American landscapes;[9][7][1] in Canada it also meant a grove or clump of trees (about 1752).[9][2] Applied to people the adjective was at first unfavourable: from 1705 it meant surly and blustering, and Johnson (1755) defined it as "big; surly; blustering", quoting Dryden's "Black-brow'd and bluff".[9][12] The kindlier sense "good-naturedly blunt, frank and hearty" appears in 1808, in Scott's Marmion.[9][7][4] In Wright's dialect dictionary it means broad and red in the face in Yorkshire and Hampshire, and surly in Devon.[13]

Timeline

  • 1627 – of a ship, with a broad, nearly vertical bow.[9][7]
  • 1665 – of a face or forehead, broad (obsolete by 1687).[9]
  • 1666 – the noun, attributively, of a steep bank.[9][5]
  • 1687 – noun, a cliff with a broad steep face.[9][7]
  • 1694 – of a shore, with a bold, almost perpendicular front.[9]
  • 1705 – of people, surly, blustering.[9]
  • c. 1752 – Canada, a grove or clump of trees.[9]
  • 1808 – good-naturedly blunt, hearty.[9][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Good-naturedly blunt, frank and hearty in manner: a bluff old sea captain.[5][9]
  2. Having a broad, flattened front, as the bow of a ship.[5][9]
  3. Rising steeply with a broad front, as a bank or coast.[5][9]
  4. (dialect, England) surly or rough.[5][13]

Noun

  1. A high, steep bank or cliff with a broad face, especially by a river or the sea.[5][9][11]
  2. (Canada) A grove or clump of trees on open land.[5][9][11]

Word family

  • bluffly
  • bluffness

bluff2 deceive by a show of confidence

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1673 John Ray, North Countrey Words
Borrowed from
Dutch bluffen
Ultimate origin
Middle Dutch bluffen

Etymology

The verb is probably borrowed from Dutch bluffen (“to boast, brag; to play a kind of card game”),[5][11][14][15][1][2] or the noun bluf (“bragging”),[11][14][15] from Middle Dutch bluffen (“to strike; to swell up”),[5][1][7] an alteration of buffen, from buf (“a blow; a swollen face”), probably of imitative origin.[5] Etymonline and Weekley also suggest Dutch verbluffen (“to baffle, mislead”),[4][6] which Klein traces to Middle Low German vorbluffen (“to baffle”), the source too of German verblüffen (“to amaze”).[8] Barnhart also allows Low German bluffen (“to frighten by menacing conduct”).[7] The OED, however, calls the origin quite unknown, finds no possible connection between the sense "to blindfold" and bluff1, and thinks the word was probably one of the many cant terms, like bamboozle, that arose between the Restoration and the reign of Queen Anne.[9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To blindfold or hoodwink: 1673, in John Ray's collection of North Country words;[9] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to about 1674.[7][5] Wright's dialect dictionary records it as obsolete in northern England.[13]

Semantic evolution

A blinker for a horse was called a bluff from 1777, a sense now obsolete or dialectal.[9][11] The modern sense began as an American poker term: Etymonline records bluff as a name for poker from 1824,[4] and dates the verb, to deceive opponents by betting heavily on a weak hand, to 1839,[4][7] while the OED's first record is from 1846.[9] Barnhart thinks it perhaps developed from the earlier verb "to blindfold",[7] while the OED suggests that later users imagined a connection with bluff1 and made it mean to hoodwink by putting on a bold front.[9] The general sense, to deceive or intimidate by a show of confidence or strength, is recorded from 1854.[9][4] The noun, an act of bluffing, follows by 1864,[4] the slang sense "an excuse, a pretence" by 1873,[16] and to call someone's bluff by 1876.[4]

Timeline

  • 1673 – to blindfold, hoodwink.[9]
  • 1777 – noun, a blinker for a horse.[9][5]
  • 1824 – noun, a name for poker.[4]
  • 1839 – verb, in poker, to deceive by betting on a weak hand.[4][7]
  • 1854 – to deceive or intimidate by a show of confidence.[9][4]
  • 1864 – noun, an act of bluffing.[4]
  • 1873 – noun, an excuse, a pretence.[16]
  • 1876 – to call someone's bluff.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To deceive, or try to deceive, by pretending to have more confidence, strength or resources than one has: She was only bluffing about having another job offer.[17][5][9]
  2. In poker, to bet heavily on a weak hand so that opponents will drop out.[5][9]
  3. To deter or frighten by a show of strength.[5]
  4. (obsolete) To blindfold; to hoodwink.[5][9][11]

Noun

  1. An act or the practice of bluffing; a pretence of strength or confidence.[17][5][9]
  2. call someone's bluff: to challenge someone to carry out a threat or prove a claim.[17]
  3. (obsolete or dialect) A blinker for a horse.[9][11][5]

Word family

  • bluffer
  • bluffable
  • outbluff
  • unbluffed

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  2. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  14. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  17. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

  • yacht · also from Dutch
  • crawl · also from Dutch
  • skate · also from Dutch
  • hooker · also from Dutch
  • funk · also from Dutch
  • stoke · also from Dutch
  • gin · also from Dutch
  • rant · also from Dutch
Cite this entry

“Bluff.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bluff. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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