## 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.

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