Etymograph

English

puff

Puff comes from Old English pyf ‘a blast of wind, puff’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *puf(f)-.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*puf(f)-1‘to blow, puff’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150pyf1‘a blast of wind, puff’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500puff1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1598puff1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English puff
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes: “Bozzacchio, an acorne. Also a puffe or mushrump full…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*puf(f)-Wiktionary, English puff‘to blow, puff’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150pyfWiktionary, English puff‘a blast of wind, puff’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500puffWiktionary, English puff
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1598puffWiktionary, English puff. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes: “Bozzacchio, an acorne. Also a puffe or mushrump full…”

Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *puf(f)-

Another origin of puff

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*puf(f)-‘to blow, puff’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*puffjanreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150pyffan‘to breathe out, blow with the mouth’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500puffen
  5. Englishtodaypuff

Today it means

noun A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “puff”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *puf(f)- / puff

Shirt and support for this word