different between oof vs uff

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /u?f/, /?f/
• (General American) enPR: ?f, IPA^(key): /uf/
• Rhymes: -u?f, -?f

Etymology 1

An onomatopoeia. Similar to Dutch oef and German uff.The verb sense is from a sound effect used in point-of-view video games when a character dies.

Interjection

oof

1. (onomatopoeia) A sound mimicking the loss of air, as if someone's solar plexus had just been struck.
2. (slang) Synonym of ouch (“expressing sympathy at another's pain, shock at a high price, etc.”)

Noun

oof (plural oofs)

1. A sound made in pain, as when expelling air after being struck.

Verb

oof (third-person singular simple present oofs, present participle oofing, simple past and past participle oofed)

1. (video games, ergative) to kill.

Etymology 2

Clipping of ooftish

Noun

oof (uncountable)

1. (Britain, slang, dated) Money. [c. 1850 – c. 1940]
   • 1888, H. Rider Haggard, Colonel Quaritch V.C. (archive.org ebook), page 232:

     “Oh,” Johnnie was saying, “so Quest is his name, is it, and he lives in a city called Boisingham, does he? Is he an oof bird?” (rich)
     “Rather,” answered the Tiger, “if only one can make the dollars run, but he's a nasty mean boy, he is.

   • 1900, Harry B. Norris, Burlington Bertie (song)

     Burlington Bertie's the latest young jay
     He rents a swell flat somewhere Kensington way
     He spends the good oof that his pater has made
     Along with the Brandy and Soda Brigade.

   • 1911–1912, published 1916, Gilbert Parker, The World For Sale, book 2, chapter 10 (Gutenberg ebook, archive.org ebook):

     What's he after? Oof—oof—oof, that's what he's after. He's for his own pocket, he's for being boss of all the woolly West. He's after keeping us poor and making himself rich.

   • 1991 May 12, "Kidnapped!" Jeeves and Wooster, Series 2, Episode 5:

     Chuffy: It's on a knife edge at the moment, Bertie. If he can get planning permission, old Stoker's going to take this heap off my hands in return for vast amounts of oof.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:money

Derived terms

• feathered oof-bird (“large source of money”)
• make the oof-bird walk (“to circulate money”)
• oof-bag (“source of money”)
• oof-bird (“source of money”)
• oofless (“poor”)
• oofy (“rich”)
• pad the oof (“to fold banknotes to appear twice as much”)

References

• Farmer, John Stephen (1902) Slang and Its Analogues?^[1], volume 5, page 107
• “oof”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• Foo, foo, foo'

German

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

An onomatopoeia. Similar to English oof and Dutch oef.

Interjection

uff

1. phew (expression of disgust, tiredness or relief)
2. whew (used before, during or after a mentally or physically strenuous activity, or while thinking of it).

Etymology 2

From Middle High German uf, northern variant of ?f, from Proto-Germanic *up.

Preposition

uff

1. (dialectal, otherwise obsolete) Alternative form of auf

Usage notes

• Found in standard prose until the 18th century. Now used in most Central German dialects and occasionally in colloquial standard German. Especially the adverb druff sees informal standard use in the sense of “high, on drugs”.

Further reading

• “uff” in Duden online

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uf/

Preposition

uff (+ dative)

1. on, upon (positioned at the top of)

uff (+ accusative)

1. on, onto, up, to (moving to the top of)

Derived terms

• (uff + dem) uffem
• (uff + das) uffs

Adverb

uff

1. open

Adjective

uff

1. open

Declension

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Italian

Interjection

uff!

1. An expression of boredom, impatience or annoyance

Pennsylvania German

Preposition

uff

1. on

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uff/
• Homophones: ów, uf

Interjection

1. whew (an expression of relief)
2. whew (an expression from strenuous labour)

Related terms

• uf