Etymology

fuzz

F4U1Z10Z10

Today it means: A frizzy mass of hair or fibre. Full definition →

Germanic
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fuzz · noun, verb1

  1. Germanic · borrowed from
  2. English todayfuzz

Uncertain. Some dictionaries suggest a Germanic source; compare Low German fussig (“loose; spongy”), Dutch voos (“unsound; rotten”). Others, such as Webster's New College Dictionary, suggest a back-formation from fuzzy. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests, “Perhaps imitative of the action of blowing away light particles.”

fuzz · noun2

Unknown. Godfrey Irwin (1930) suggests a possible connection to fuss, "over-particular", excessive bother.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.