Fluffy

How to spell fluffy

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fluffy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fluffy mean?

1. adjectiveCovered in or resembling soft, light, downy material; light and airy in texture.

Fluffy in a sentence

• The kitten had a soft, fluffy coat that shed everywhere.

• She whisked the eggs until the mixture turned pale and fluffy.

Where does fluffy come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Fluffy is built from the noun 'fluff', which appeared in English in the 1700s and seems to be a softened, imitative variant of an earlier word 'flue', meaning soft downy material or lint. The 'fl-' opening belongs to a family of English words suggesting light, airy movement, such as 'flutter', 'flit', and 'flap', and the doubled 'ff' with the puffed-out ending mimics the soft, weightless quality the word describes. Adding the common adjective suffix '-y', meaning 'full of' or 'having the quality of', produced 'fluffy' by the early 1800s to describe anything covered in or resembling that light downy material. The doubling of the 'f' is the small spelling point to remember: 'fluff' keeps two effs, and so does 'fluffy'. The word has stayed close to its original sense throughout, applied to feathers, fur, clouds, and well-beaten food alike.

How the word is built

• fluff (soft downy mass)
• -y (adjective suffix)