Where does “puffin” come from?

puffin (French) comes from English puffin, from Middle English poffin, from English puff, from Middle English puff, from Old English pyf — a blast of wind, puff.

puffin (French): shearwater

Definitions

  1. shearwater

Ancestry of “puffin”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishpuffinThe young of the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), especially eaten as food
2Middle Englishpoffin—
3EnglishpuffA sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath...
4Middle Englishpuff—
5Old Englishpyfa blast of wind, puff

Words derived from “puffin”

Every word from Old English pyf →