Stuff

How to spell stuff

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce stuff

What does stuff mean?

1. nounMatter, material, or an unspecified collection of things or possessions.
2. verbTo fill something tightly by packing or cramming material into it.

Stuff in a sentence

• noun

  She packed all her stuff into three boxes before the move.

• verb

  He tried to stuff another jumper into the already bulging suitcase.

• noun

  The cleaning stuff under the sink had almost run out.

• verb

  They like to stuff the turkey with sage and onion before roasting it.

Where does stuff come from?

Language of origin: French

The word comes from the Old French estoffe, meaning the material or fabric from which something is made, and the related verb estoffer, meaning to equip, furnish, or pad out. That French source itself drew on a Latin and possibly Germanic background tied to the idea of fitting out or supplying. English borrowed it in the 1300s, at first referring quite specifically to woven cloth and military equipment, which is why old texts speak of a soldier's stuff meaning his gear. Over the centuries the meaning broadened enormously, from particular materials to the loose, all-purpose sense of any matter or unspecified things that we use today. The verb sense, to cram or pack something full, grew naturally from the original idea of padding and filling. The spelling is mercifully phonetic, with the doubled f and the short u giving little trouble.

How the word is built

• stuff (single root, no affixes; from Old French estoffe meaning fabric or material)