Fuzzy

How to spell fuzzy

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fuzzy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fuzzy mean?

1. adjectiveCovered with or resembling a layer of soft, fine fibres or down.
2. adjectiveLacking sharpness or clarity; blurred or vague.

Fuzzy in a sentence

• The new towels felt soft and fuzzy against her skin.

• The old photograph was too fuzzy to read the street sign.

• A fuzzy peach skin left a faint dust on his fingers.

• His memory of that night remained stubbornly fuzzy.

Where does fuzzy come from?

Language of origin: Dutch

Fuzzy is built from the noun fuzz plus the common adjective ending -y, and it began appearing in English in the early seventeenth century. The base word fuzz is of uncertain origin, but most scholars connect it to Low German and Dutch words such as voos or foos, meaning 'spongy' or 'loose and soft', which fits the idea of light, downy fibres that stand away from a surface. From describing things literally covered in soft fluff, the word stretched naturally to mean 'blurred' or 'out of focus', as if an image had grown a soft, indistinct edge. The same root sits behind the slang noun 'fuzz' for police, though that later sense developed separately. Because the word doubles its z, the spelling trap is simply remembering both z letters before the -y.

How the word is built

• fuzz (fine fluffy fibres or down)
• -y (adjective suffix meaning 'characterised by')