Etymograph

English

puffback

From puff + back.

A compound of puff + back

Proto-West Germanic *puf(f)- ‘to blow, puff’

Old English pyf ‘a blast of wind, puff’

Middle English puff

English puff

Proto-Germanic *baką ‘back’

Proto-West Germanic *bak

Old English bæc

Middle English bak ‘the back’

English back

Today it means

noun Any bird of the genus Dryoscopus.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “puffback”. 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 / puffback

Shirt and support for this word