Meaning
Anything light, soft or fuzzy, especially fur, hair, feathers.
Etymology
Origin: Old English
From earlier floow (“woolly substance, down, nap, lint”), also spelt flough, flue, and flew, from West Flemish vluwe, of uncertain ultimate origin: * Compare Old English flōh (“that which is flown off, fragment, piece”); see flaw * Possibly representing a blend of flue + puff; compare Middle Dutch vloe, or perhaps onomatopoeic; compare dialectal English floose, flooze, fleeze (“particles of wool or cotton; fluff; loose threads or fibres”), Danish fnug (“down, fluff”), Swedish fnugg (“speck, flake”). * Alternatively, West Flemish vluwe may derive from French velu (“hairy, furry”), from Latin villūtus (“having shaggy hair”), from villus (“shaggy hair, tuft of hair”). For words of similar sound and meaning in other languages, compare Japanese フワフワ (fuwafuwa, “lightly, softly”), Hungarian puha (“soft, fluffy”), Polish puchaty (“soft, fluffy”), Romanian puf (“down, peachfuzz, soft hair of some animals, powderpuff”).
Synonyms & Antonyms
NYT Puzzle Appearances
Accepted in 16 recorded puzzles:
- 2026-09-27FDEILNU
- 2026-03-17FBDELOU
- 2026-03-06UDEFILP
- 2026-01-28LAFORUV
- 2025-11-04UALTECF
- 2025-05-18FUANIGL
- 2025-03-12FUAOSLB
- 2025-02-04FATHELU
- 2024-05-21LUBNEFI
- 2024-03-20FANICLU
- 2024-03-10FDEILPU
- 2023-12-01FBTLEOU
+4 earlier appearances in the archive.