Etymology

puff

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Today it means: A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth. Full definition →

Middle English puff ← Old English pyf ← Proto-West Germanic *puf(f)-
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puff · noun1

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*puf(f)-“to blow, puff”
  2. Old English · inherited frompyf“a blast of wind, puff”
  3. Middle English · inherited frompuff
  4. English todaypuff

From Middle English puff, puf, from Old English pyf (“a blast of wind, puff”), from Proto-West Germanic *puf(f)- (“to blow, puff”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Dutch puf (“puff, wind, fart”), Middle Low German puf, pof (“puff”).

puff · verb2

  1. Old English · inherited frompyffan“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”
  2. Middle English · inherited frompuffen
  3. English todaypuff

From Middle English puffen, from Old English pyffan (“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”). Compare Dutch puffen, German Low German puffen, German puffen, Danish puffe, Swedish puffa.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.