buff

buff · noun, adjective, verb¹

1. Ancient Greek[Term?]?
2. Ancient Greekβούβαλος (boúbalos)
3. Latinbūbalus
4. Late Latinbufalus
5. Italianbufalo
6. Old Frenchbufle
7. Middle Frenchbuffle
8. Englishbuffe
9. English todaybuff

From buffe (“leather”), from Middle French buffle (“buffalo”).

buff · verb, noun²

1. Old French · derived frombufer“to cuff, buffet”
2. English todaybuff

From Old French bufer (“to cuff, buffet”). See buffet (“a blow”).

buff · verb³

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰeyH-“to fear, to be afraid”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*bubjaną
3. Old English · inherited frombyffan“to mumble, mutter”
4. Middle English · inherited frombuffen“to stutter, stammer”
5. English todaybuff

From Middle English buffen (“to stutter, stammer”), from Old English byffan (“to mumble, mutter”), from Proto-West Germanic *bubjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyH- (“to fear, to be afraid”). More at bive (“tremble, shake”) and bever.

buff · noun⁴

Clipping of buffalo.

Buff · noun⁵

From the colour of their facings.

Words from the same roots