Etymology

puff adder

Today it means: Any viper or adder in genus Bitis, Full definition →

First used late 18th c.Dutch pofadder
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The story

  1. Dutch · borrowed frompofadder
  2. English todaypuff adder

Borrowed from Afrikaans or South African Dutch pofadder.

First known use, by meaning

  • from late 18th c. especially, a common puffadder (Bitis arietans), found in Southern Africa.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.