buffer

buffer · noun, adjective¹

From buff + -er.

buffer · noun, verb²

1. Old Frenchbuffe
2. Middle Englishbuff
3. English todaybuffer

Agent noun from obsolete verb buff (“make a dull sound when struck”) (mid-16c.), from Old French buffe (“blow”). The “boatswain's mate” sense is said to be popularly explained by the mate being a “buffer”, that is intermediary, between officers and men, but various other explanations have also been proposed.

buffer · noun³

In reference to buff leather.

Words from the same roots