Fuzzy
/ˈfʌzi/noun
Covered with fine soft hair or fibers; also unclear or blurred in meaning, sound, or appearance.
Did you know?The modern “unclear” sense of fuzzy is much newer than the “hairy/fluffy” one, showing how English turns texture into a metaphor for mental fog.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pel-
“to cover, skin, hide”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*fuzzōną
“to be fluffy or shaggy”
Old English
Old English
fūsig
“not directly attested in this form for the modern word; related Germanic developments produced words for soft, shaggy texture”
16th Century
English
fuzzy
“soft, shaggy, or covered with fine fibers”
20th Century
English
fuzzy
“blurry, indistinct, or not sharply defined”