different between puffing vs puffin

English

Verb

puffing

1. present participle of puff
2. (US) Leaving a car engine running unattended, especially in cold weather to warm it up.

Noun

puffing (plural puffings)

1. The act of one who puffs.

   the puffings and pantings of a man running to catch a train

2. A puffy ornament.
   • 1825, The Ladies' Monthly Museum (volume 21, page 50)

     Evening dresses are trimmed in a variety of ways, with puffings of crape, fringes, and ornaments, of the richest patterns […]

3. (law) An opinion or judgment, often made by the seller of property to a potential buyer, that is not made as a representation of fact.

English

Etymology

From Middle English poffin, poffoun, puffon, apparently from puff + -ing, or perhaps ultimately from Middle Cornish (compare Breton poc'han (“puffin”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?f?n/
• Rhymes: -?f?n

Noun

puffin (plural puffins)

1. (now obsolete) The young of the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), especially eaten as food. [14th–19th c.]
2. The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) or (by extension) any of the other various small seabirds of the genera Fratercula and Lunda that are black and white with a brightly-coloured beak. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: (Britain, regional) pope, sea-parrot
3. (entomology) Any of various African and Asian pierid butterflies of the genus Appias. Some species of this genus are also known as albatrosses.
4. (obsolete) A puffball.

Derived terms

Related terms

• fraterculine

Translations

French

Etymology

From English puffin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /py.f??/

Noun

puffin m (plural puffins)

1. shearwater

Further reading

• “puffin” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).