fluff

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Anything light, soft or fuzzy, especially fur, hair, feathers.
2. (countable, uncountable) Anything inconsequential or superficial.
3. (countable, informal, uncountable) A lapse or mistake, especially a mistake in an actor's lines.
4. (countable, informal, slang, uncountable) A cloth diaper.
5. (New-England, countable, uncountable) Marshmallow creme.
6. (countable, uncountable) A passive partner in a lesbian relationship.
7. (Australia, Canada, New-Zealand, countable, euphemistic, uncountable) A fart.
8. (countable, slang, uncountable) Fan fiction, or part of a fan fiction, which is sweet and feel-good in tone, usually involving romance.
9. (UK, countable, uncountable) A form of roleplaying which is inconsequential and not related to the plot; often used in the context of (but not limited to) filling time.
10. (UK, countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable) Short change deliberately given by a railway clerk, to keep back money for himself.

Verb

1. (transitive) To make something fluffy.
2. (intransitive) To become fluffy, puff up.
3. (intransitive) To move lightly like fluff.
4. (informal, intransitive, transitive) To make a mistake in one's lines.
5. (informal, transitive) To do incorrectly, for example mishit, miskick, miscue etc.
6. (Australia, euphemistic, intransitive) To break wind, to fart.
7. (slang, transitive) To arouse (a male pornographic actor) before filming.
8. (broadly, slang, transitive) To bring to a state of excitement.
9. (UK, obsolete, slang) To deliberately shortchange (a railway customer) and keep the money for oneself.

Synonyms

down

fuzz

make fluffy

blunder

nap

ruffle

lint

bungle

flue

flub

tease

bagatelle

spoil

floss

ball up

blow

bobble

bollix

bollocks

botch

bumble

foul up

frippery

frivolity

fuck up

fumble

hair

loosen

mess up

mishandle

mistake

muck up

muff

fluff out

screw up

villus

bollix up

bollocks up

botch up

false step

louse up

become fluffy

bodge

flecks of fibre

downy wool

err

oblivion

pile

plumule

soft hair

Translations

Flaum

duvet

peluria

dons

pelusa

plumón

lanuggine

vello

Fussel

nesthaar

waas

χνούδι

lanugem

Fluse

kabarık

Pronounced as (IPA)

/flʌf/

Etymology

Cognate with Old English: flōh

Cognate with Middle Dutch: vloe

Cognate with English: floose

Cognate with Danish: fnug

Cognate with Swedish: fnugg

Cognate with West Flemish: vluwe

Cognate with Japanese: フワフワ

Cognate with Hungarian: puha

Cognate with Romanian: puf

In summary

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”).