puffy

American  

[puhf-ee] / ˈpʌf i /

adjective

puffier, puffiest

1. gusty.

2. short-winded; panting.

3. inflated, distended, or swollen.

4. fat; plump.

5. conceited.

6. bombastic.

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puffy British  

/ ˈpʌfɪ /

adjective

1. short of breath

2. swollen or bloated

   a puffy face

3. pompous or conceited

4. blowing in gusts

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Other Word Forms

• puffily
  adverb
• puffiness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of puffy

First recorded in 1590–1600; puff + -y ¹

Explanation

Puffy things are swollen or soft, like a big, puffy hairdo or your favorite puffy winter coat that's stuffed full of feathers. Your eyes might be puffy after a really sad movie, and your cat may look puffy when she's hissing at the dog. Big, round clouds are puffy, and so are the white seed heads of dandelions — the puffy balls you can blow on and make a wish. Wind is puffy too, when it blows in little gusts. This is the earliest meaning of puffy, from puff and its Old English root pyffan, "to blow with the mouth."

Example Sentences

Slipping out of blankets and off of tall, puffy mattresses, we give thanks, take a crystal, a mantra card … and leave the giant mattress warehouse for the bright lights of Glendale Boulevard.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

Mia said she hopes to pick a green dress and does not want "something big and puffy".

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

For something completely different, I decided to try her New York Dutch Baby, which is a kind of giant, puffy pancake akin to Yorkshire pudding.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

"Supermassive dark stars are extremely bright, giant, yet puffy clouds made primarily out of hydrogen and helium, which are supported against gravitational collapse by the minute amounts of self-annihilating dark matter inside them," Ilie said.

From Science Daily • Oct. 14, 2025

Flipping the pages but not reading, Jeff went on about her puffy arms and stringy hair and something he couldn’t even bring himself to say, but just made noises about.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott