tuft

Meaning

Noun

1. A bunch of feathers, grass or hair, etc., held together at the base.
2. A cluster of threads drawn tightly through upholstery, a mattress or a quilt, etc., to secure and strengthen the padding.
3. A small clump of trees or bushes.
4. (historical) A gold tassel on the cap worn by titled undergraduates at English universities.
5. (historical) A person entitled to wear such a tassel.

Verb

1. (transitive) To provide or decorate with a tuft or tufts.
2. (transitive) To form into tufts.
3. (transitive) To secure and strengthen (a mattress, quilt, etc.) with tufts. This hinders the stuffing from moving.
4. (intransitive) To be formed into tufts.

Synonyms

bunch

cluster

wisp

clump

tassel

tussock

lock

🔒

crest

bundle

grove

scrap

pinch

panache

forelock

fire up

fleece

handful

hassock

hill

hillock

hood

hummock

imperial

knap

knoll

knot

🪢

mount

pack

packet

pappus

patch

pencil

📝

plume

plush

pompom

pompon

pony tail

rag

sheaf

shred

swelling

thicket

tip

top

🔝

topknot

tress

small mountain

tuffet

little piece

flocculus

Translations

touffe

ciuffo

Büschel

pluk

kuifje

dot

kuif

bosje

manojo

bos

🪵

penacho

cespo

mechón

🔒

φούντα

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tʌft/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: tuft

Cognate with Old English: þūf

Cognate with Old Norse: þúfa

Cognate with Swedish: tuva

Cognate with Swedish: tova

Cognate with Swedish: tofs

Cognate with Latin: tūber

Cognate with Ancient Greek: τῡ́φη

In summary

From Middle English tuft, toft, tofte, an alteration of earlier *tuffe (> Modern English tuff), from Old French touffe, tuffe, toffe, tofe (“tuft”) (modern French touffe), from Late Latin tufa (“helmet crest”) (near Vegezio). Compare Old English þūf (“tuft”), Old Norse þúfa (“mound”), Swedish tuva (“tussock; grassy hillock”), Swedish tova (“tangled knot”), Swedish tofs (“tuft, tassel”), from Proto-Germanic *þūbǭ (“tube”), *þūbaz; akin to Latin tūber (“hump, swelling”), Ancient Greek τῡ́φη (tū́phē, “cattail (used to stuff beds)”).