huff

Etymology

It is imitative of the sound of puffing or of a blast of air,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} like puff.^[3][7][8] It appears first as the Middle English interjection huf, about 1450,^[9][4] and the verb, recorded from 1582, was formed like it.^[3][10] The noun comes from the verb.^[5][10][6] Weekley compared German hauchen (“to breathe”) and huchen.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an interjection representing puffing, about 1450: "Huf, puf!" says one, "haf, paf!" the other.^[9] The OED's first record of the interjection is from about 1485, as the cry of a swaggerer on the stage.^[3] The verb, to blow or puff, is first recorded in 1582, in Stanyhurst's translation of Virgil;^[3] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1583.^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

The interjection huff! was put in the mouths of swaggerers and bullies,^[3][10] and in Preston's Cambyses (about 1570) three ruffians are called Huff, Ruff and Snuff.^[3][13] From blowing and swelling, the verb passed in 1598, in Ben Jonson and Florio, to puffing up with pride or anger and blustering,^[3][4][5] and in 1674 to bullying or hectoring someone;^[3] by 1793 one could be huffed, offended.^[3] The noun followed the same path: a gust of anger or arrogance in 1599 and a puff of wind in 1600,^[3][4] then, from 1757, a fit of offended pique, especially in a huff;^[3] Etymonline records to leave in a huff from 1778.^[5] In draughts, to huff a piece (from 1688) is to remove it as a forfeit, from the old habit of blowing on the removed piece.^{[3][14][7][11]} Johnson (1755) explained the noun as ferment, comparing the dialect saying that bread huffs up when it rises.^[15] As slang for inhaling solvent fumes to get high, Etymonline dates the verb to 1996.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – huf, an interjection representing puffing.^[9][4]
• c. 1485 – huff!, the cry of a swaggerer.^[3]
• 1582 – verb, to blow or puff.^[3] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1583.^[3][4][12]
• 1598 – to swell with pride or anger, to bluster; to take offence.^[3][4]
• 1599 – noun, a sudden swell of anger or arrogance.^[3][4]
• 1600 – noun, a puff of wind.^[3]
• 1674 – to bully, hector.^[3]
• 1688 – in draughts, to remove an opponent's piece.^[3]
• 1757 – noun, a fit of petulance or offended dignity.^[3]
• 1996 – to inhale fumes for intoxication.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fit of anger or pique, especially in the phrase in a huff: She left the meeting in a huff.^[16][12][2]
2. A puff of air.^[12][3]

Verb

1. To blow or pant noisily, often in huff and puff: He huffed up the last flight of stairs.^{[16][12][2][14]}
2. To make noisy, empty threats; to bluster.^[12][2][16]
3. To show annoyance; to take offence, or to make someone take offence.^[2][14][3]
4. To treat with insolence; to bully.^[2][3]
5. (slang) To inhale the fumes of solvents or other volatile substances to become intoxicated.^[2][14]
6. In draughts, to remove an opponent's piece that failed to make a required capture.^[16][14][3]

Word family

• huffish
• huffy

Related words

• puff
• huff and puff
• puffy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
9. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c d e Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins