tuft

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] It is inherited from Middle English tuft, also toft,^[3][5] perhaps borrowed from Old French tofe, also toffe,^[3][6][7][8] now French touffe,^[2][4] with a final t added in English,^[2][4] as in graft.^[6][4][3] The French word has itself been referred in two ways.^[8][4] One is Late Latin tūfa (“a kind of helmet crest”), recorded in Vegetius and appearing in Greek as τοῦφα (toûpha),^[2][8][4] and the other a Germanic source,^{[8][4][9][10]} comparing Old High German zopf and Old Norse toppr (“tuft, summit”), and so top.^{[8][4][9][10][11]} The OED points out that neither fits: the French word requires *tuffa and not the long vowel of the Latin one, and neither form answers phonetically to the German words; it compares Italian ciuffo (“tuft, lock of hair”), from German.^[2] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English leave the French word of unknown origin.^[12][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bunch of soft things fixed at the base, such as hairs or feathers: about 1387, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.^[8][2] The OED cites the Hengwrt manuscript of the Prologue, dated from about 1405.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From bunches of hair and feathers the word spread to plants, for a cluster of leaves or stems from one point (first recorded about 1523),^[2] and to a clump of trees or bushes, from about 1450 in the OED.^[2] It later named a small patch of hair on the chin or head (1603).^[2] The tassel on a cap, recorded from 1670, gave the gold tuft of titled undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge,^[2][12] then from 1755 the wearer himself.^[2] A social climber who courted them was a tuft-hunter from the mid-18th century,^[13][11] and toff is probably an alteration of the university word.^[14][13] The verb, to furnish with tufts, is recorded from 1535;^[2][10][8] in stag-hunting, to beat a covert, it dates from 1591,^[2] and Wright records it in Somerset and Devon.^[15] Upholsterers' tufting of a cushion is first recorded in 1884,^[2] and anatomists use the word for a small cluster of capillaries from 1848.^[2] In slang a tuft has also meant a woman's pubic hair, from 1661.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1387 – a bunch of hairs, feathers or the like.^[8][2]
• c. 1450 – a small group of trees or bushes.^[2]
• c. 1523 – a cluster of leaves or flowers growing from one point.^[2]
• 1535 – verb, to furnish with tufts.^[2][10]
• 1591 – verb, to beat a covert in stag-hunting.^[2]
• 1603 – a small patch of hair on the head or chin.^[2]
• 1605 – verb, to grow in tufts.^[2]
• 1670 – an ornamental tassel on a cap, especially that of titled undergraduates.^[2]
• 1755 – a titled undergraduate, in university slang (obsolete by 1884).^[2]
• 1848 – a small cluster of capillary blood vessels.^[2]
• 1884 – verb, in upholstery, to draw the surfaces of a cushion together at intervals.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small bunch of hairs, feathers, grass or the like, held together at the base: a tuft of wool caught on the fence.^[17][10][2]
2. A cluster of threads drawn tightly through a mattress, quilt or upholstery to hold the padding, or a soft bunch of threads used as ornament.^[17][10]
3. A small group of trees or bushes; a clump.^[17][10][2]
4. A small patch of beard on the chin; an imperial.^[10][2]
5. (anatomy) A small cluster of capillaries; a glomerulus.^[2][6]
6. (historical) The gold tassel once worn on the cap by titled undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge, or a person entitled to wear it.^[17][2][6]

Verb

1. To provide or decorate with tufts.^[17][10][2]
2. To form tufts, or grow in tufts.^[17][10][2]
3. To secure the padding of a mattress or seat with stitches drawn tightly through at intervals.^[17][10][2]
4. In stag-hunting, to beat a covert, or to drive deer from it.^[10][2][6]

Word family

• tufter
• tufty
• tufted
• ear tuft

Related words

• top
• toff
• tuffet

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins