Etymologically
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puff

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English puffen,[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English pyffan (“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”),[6][7][3][8][9] probably imitative of the sound of breath blown out through the lips.[10][7][11][3][5][12] The noun is inherited from Middle English puf, also puffe, perhaps continuing pyf (“a puff of wind”);[7][11][13][14] the OED takes it either from the verb or as a separate imitative formation.[10] Similar imitative words are Middle Dutch puffen (“to puff, blow”) and Dutch poffen,[10][11][14][2] Low German puf,[11][14] Alemannic German pfuffen and Norwegian puffa,[15][9] and German puffen (“to hit, strike”) is recorded from the 16th century.[10] Klein compares Middle English buffen (“to strike”) and Italian buffo (“blast of wind”), and so buff and buffoon.[8] Johnson derived it from Dutch pof, "a blast which swells the cheeks".[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

To blow out breath or air in a short blast: the verb is recorded in Old English glosses to Aldhelm, about 1000,[10][5] and Bosworth-Toller glosses it "to breathe out".[6] The noun, a sudden brief burst of wind or breath, is first found in late Old English, in Alfred's translation of Boethius.[10]

Semantic evolution

In early Middle English the Ancrene Riwle (about 1225) uses the verb for blowing something away and blowing out a flame, and the noun for a short blast.[10][5] The verb came to mean "to pant, breathe hard", about 1300 in the OED and in the late 14th century in Etymonline.[10][7] Because a puff of breath fills things out, the word also turned to swelling: the verb meant to fill or inflate with air by the 1530s,[7][11] and the noun was used of light, swollen pastry, before 1399 in Barnhart and in 1419 in the OED.[5][10][7] From swelling came pride and empty talk: the verb meant "to exalt" from the 1530s, and the noun "an empty boast, bombast" from 1567;[7][5] from these grew the noun's sense of flattery or inflated praise (1732) and, by the early 18th century, the verb's sense of praising with self-interest.[7][5] Weekley places the literary and advertising sense in the 18th century.[17] Johnson (1755) defined puff as "a quick blast with the mouth" and "a small blast of wind".[16] A puff for powder, at first a small bellows, then a pad, appears from the mid 17th century;[10][7] other senses are puffing at a pipe (1664),[10] a steam engine moving with puffs of smoke (1828),[10] breath or stamina in out of puff (1827),[10] and in British slang marijuana (1989).[10] In Scots and Irish dialect puff-and-lal was empty boasting.[18]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – verb, to blow out breath or air.[10][5]
  • late Old English – noun, a brief burst of wind or breath.[10]
  • c. 1225 – to blow away; to blow out a flame; noun puf, a short blast, in the Ancrene Riwle.[10][5]
  • c. 1300 – to pant, breathe hard.[10]
  • before 1399 – a light pastry (1419 in the OED).[5][10]
  • 1530s – to inflate with air; to exalt.[7]
  • 1567 – an empty boast, bombast.[5][7]
  • 1664 – to smoke a pipe.[10]
  • 1732 – flattery, inflated praise; a pad for applying powder.[7][5][10]
  • 1827 – breath, as in out of puff.[10]
  • 1828 – of a steam engine, to move giving out puffs.[10]
  • 1989 – British slang, marijuana.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A short, quick gust or blast of air, breath, smoke or steam, or the amount released: a puff of smoke.[15][4][10]
  2. The soft sound of such a blast.[15][10]
  3. A draw on a cigarette or pipe.[15][10]
  4. A light, hollow pastry with a sweet or savoury filling; puff pastry.[15][10]
  5. A powder puff.[15][10]
  6. Exaggerated praise of a book, product or performer, especially in an advertisement.[15][7][5]
  7. A swelling.[15][7]
  8. (chiefly British, informal) Breath; stamina: After the third flight of stairs he was out of puff.[10]
  9. (British slang) Cannabis.[10]

Verb

  1. To blow in short gusts, or to give out air, smoke or steam in puffs.[4][10]
  2. To breathe hard and fast; to pant.[10][7]
  3. To draw on a cigarette, pipe or cigar.[10]
  4. To swell or fill out with air: The pigeon puffed up its chest.[7][11]
  5. To praise in exaggerated terms, especially to advertise.[7][5]
  6. Of a steam engine or a person, to move along giving out puffs or panting.[10]

Word family

  • puffily
  • puffiness
  • puffy
  • puffingly
  • puffbird

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b 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)
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  17. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  18. ^ 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)