puff

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled a-puffin

US /pʌf/ UK /pʌf/ See IPA manual

noun verb

Meanings

1

noun
a short, sudden burst of breath, air, or smoke

A puff of wind scattered the leaves.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a short, sudden burst of... gust breath blast whiff blow gasp exhalation

Word family

Forms puffy

Derived forms puffypufferpuffed

Etymology

From Middle English puffen, from Old English pyffan ('to breathe out, blow'), of imitative (onomatopoeic) origin, echoing the sound of a sudden breath.

Topics

Describing Qualities

# puff

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** pʌf
**IPA (UK):** pʌf

## Meanings
1. a short, sudden burst of breath, air, or smoke

## Examples
- A puff of wind scattered the leaves.

## Synonyms
- gust
- breath
- blast
- whiff
- blow
- gasp
- exhalation

## Derived Forms
- puffy
- puffer
- puffed

## Etymology
From Middle English puffen, from Old English pyffan ('to breathe out, blow'), of imitative (onomatopoeic) origin, echoing the sound of a sudden breath.

## AI Etymology
Puff comes from Middle English puffen, from Old English pyffan ('to breathe out, blow'), of imitative (onomatopoeic) origin, echoing the sound of a sudden breath. The quoted older sense, "to breathe out, blow," supplies the immediate semantic anchor for puff. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word puff carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a short, sudden burst of breath, air, or smoke". English derivatives include puffy, puffer, and puffed. The result is a noun and verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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puff

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