Tuft

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /tʌft/

Definitions

1. A dense aggregation of fibers, hair, or plant life that forms a noticeable and compact grouping in a particular location
2. A small, tight group of hairs or fibers growing close together ; a compact clump of plants or grass growing from the ground
3. A limited mass of hair, thread, or similar strands gathered in one spot ; a small gathering of vegetation forming a visible patch

Etymology: The word "tuft" has a surprisingly tangled ancestry that loops back to ideas of swelling and mounds. Old English had "þūf", meaning a tuft, and the Old Norse "þúfa" meant a mound or hillock, so a clump of grass and a small rise in the ground were once close cousins in meaning. Both trace back to a Proto-Germanic root "*þūbǭ", meaning "tube", which is also related to Latin "tūber", "hump or swelling", the same family that gave English "tumour" and "tuber". The word's more direct line runs through Old French. Late Latin "tūfa" referred to a helmet crest, a bunch of feathers or hair standing up from the top of a helmet. Old French turned this into "touffe", which English borrowed in Middle English as "tuffe", later altered to "tuft" and "toft". Meanwhile the Greek "tūphē", a cattail used to stuff mattresses, shows how widely the same root was used for soft, bushy growths.

Synonyms: clump, bunch, cluster, group, collection