Puff

See also: puff

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): [pʰʊf]

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic, analogous to English buff.

Alternative forms

• Buf, Buff

Noun

Puff m (strong, genitive Puffs or Puffes, plural Puffe or Püffe)

1. (colloquial, now regional) thud, wham; light, harmless blow

Declension

Declension of Puff [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Puff	die	Puffe, Püffe
genitive	eines	des	Puffs, Puffes	der	Puffe, Püffe
dative	einem	dem	Puff, Puffe1	den	Puffen, Püffen
accusative	einen	den	Puff	die	Puffe, Püffe

¹Now rare, see notes.

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic from the sound of the dice shaker hitting the ground.

Noun

Puff n (strong, genitive Puffs or Puffes, no plural)

1. (obsolete because hardly played) a kind of dice game, anterior to backgammon

Declension

Declension of Puff [sg-only, neuter, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Puff
genitive	eines	des	Puffs, Puffes
dative	einem	dem	Puff, Puffe1
accusative	ein	das	Puff

¹Now rare, see notes.

Etymology 3

From the dice game, from disguising idioms like „zum Puff gehen“ actually meaning going to a brothel.

Alternative forms

• P*ff (censored)

Noun

Puff m or n (strong, genitive Puffs or Puffes, plural Puffs)

1. (colloquial) brothel, whorehouse, bordello

   Synonyms: Bordell, Freudenhaus, Hurenhaus

Declension

Declension of Puff [masculine // neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der, das	Puff	die	Puffs
genitive	eines	des	Puffs, Puffes	der	Puffs
dative	einem	dem	Puff, Puffe1	den	Puffs
accusative	einen, ein	den, das	Puff	die	Puffs

¹Now rare, see notes.

Descendants

• → French: pouf (“brothel”) (semantic loan)

Etymology 4

From the sense “thud, wham” understood as a whoosh forming a bulge, and in the sense “cushion seat” semantic loan from French pouf, the “laundry basket” apparently not present in French but extended in German from the broad sense in French of any textile heap.

Alternative forms

• (bulge in drapery): Puffe

Noun

Puff m (strong, genitive Puffs or Puffes, plural Puffe)

1. (archaic) puff, a bulge in drapery

   Synonym: Bausch

   • 1930–1943, Robert Musil, chapter 45, in Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften [The Man Without Qualities], book 1, Hamburg: Rowohlt Verlag, published 1957:

     Aus der senkrechten Bügelfalte empor, schien Arnheims Leib in der Gotteseinsamkeit der Bergriesen dazustehn; durch die Welle des Tals mit ihm vereint, stand auf der anderen Seite einsamkeitsüberglänzt Diotima, in ihrem Kleid der damaligen Mode, das an den Oberarmen kleine Puffen bildete, über dem Magen den Busen in eine kunstvoll gefaltete Weite auflöste und unter der Kniekehle sich wieder an die Wade legte.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. a kind of beanbag chair, a large cushion ball used as a seat, Sitzpuff

   Hypernym: Sitzsack

   • 2016, Sarah Waters, translated by Ute Leibmann, Fremde Gäste: Roman, Köln: Bastei Lübbe, →ISBN, page 96:

     Du kannst dich auch aufn Puff setzen, so schmal wie du bist.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. laundry basket, Wäschepuff

Declension

Declension of Puff [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Puff	die	Puffe
genitive	eines	des	Puffs, Puffes	der	Puffe
dative	einem	dem	Puff, Puffe1	den	Puffen
accusative	einen	den	Puff	die	Puffe

¹Now rare, see notes.

Etymology 5

Borrowed from English puff, hence often italicized and written with minuscule in early occurrences, and probably also sharing the English pronunciation.

Noun

Puff m (strong, genitive Puffs or Puffes, plural Puffs)

1. (genetics) a chromosome puff

Declension

Declension of Puff [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Puff	die	Puffs
genitive	eines	des	Puffs, Puffes	der	Puffs
dative	einem	dem	Puff, Puffe1	den	Puffs
accusative	einen	den	Puff	die	Puffs

¹Now rare, see notes.

Further reading

• “Puff” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Puff” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Puff” in Duden online