pufo

From English puff. Compare Italian buffo, German puffen (“to puff”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈpufo]
• Rhymes: -ufo
• Hyphenation: pu‧fo

pufo (accusative singular pufon, plural pufoj, accusative plural pufojn)

1. puff
2. wad

• pufi
• pufmaizo

Attested since circa 1845. Probably onomatopoeic.

• IPA^(key): [ˈpufʊ]

pufo m (plural pufos)

1. debt, specially when there is no intention to settle it

   Synonym: débeda

   O xestor deixou un pufo de 5 millóns de euros ― The manager left a [irregular/undeclared] debt of € 5M

   • 1884, O tío Marcos da Portela, II, 31:

     pido con xusticia qu'o señor Gobernador pubrique unha real orde impoñendo castigos ós pufistas, pois señores, os xastres estamos cheos de pufos hastr'a cabeza

     I ask with justice that the Governor publish a royal decree imposing a punishment on the scammers, because, gentlemen, we the tailors are filled with unpaid debts till our heads

2. scam; dirty business

   Synonym: calote

• pufento
• pufista

• → Spanish: pufo

• “pufo” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “pufo” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “pufo” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Borrowed from Galician pufo, which is attested a century earlier.

pufo m (plural pufos)

1. (colloquial, Spain) scam

• “pufo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014