# puffin

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpʌfɪn/ · frequency rank #43,862

## Definitions
1. The young of the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), especially eaten as food.
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.
3. Any of various African and Asian pierid butterflies of the genus Appias. Some species of this genus are also known as albatrosses.
4. A puffball.

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

## Easily confused with
- **Putin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/puffin-vs-putin)
- **puffy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/puffin-vs-puffy)
- **puffs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/puffin-vs-puffs)
- **puffing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/puffin-vs-puffing)
- **puff** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/puff-vs-puffin)
- **puffed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/puffed-vs-puffin)
- **puffer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/puffer-vs-puffin)

## Common misspellings (7)
`pfufin`, `ppuffin`, `puffinn`, `puffni`, `pufifn`, `pufin`, `upffin`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/puffin