duffy
/ˈdʌfi/
duffy is the archaic form of duppy.
Meaning of duppy
Noun
duppy (plural duppies)
- A ghost or spirit, often appearing in the form of a dog barking or howling through the night.
- They firmly believe in the apparition of spectres. Those of deceased friends are duppies; others, of more hostile and tremendous aspect, like our raw-head-and-bloody-bones, are called bugaboos.1774, Edward Long, The History of Jamaica, volume 2, page 416
- Synonyms:
- jumbie
- A drawn game of noughts and crosses (in Jamaica tii-taa-tuo).
Proper noun capitalized: Duffy
Duffy (countable and uncountable, plural Duffys)
- A surname from Irish, an anglicization of Ó Dubhthaigh (“descendant of Dubhthach”). Dubhthach is a byname derived from dubh (“black”).
- More than 7,000 commercial truck drivers have been placed out of service this year for failing to meet federal English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday on X (formerly Twitter).2025 October 30, Noi Mahoney, “More than 7,000 truckers reportedly sidelined for English proficiency violations”, in Freight Waves
- A surname from Irish, an anglicization of Ó Doithe.
- A Scottish surname from Scottish Gaelic [in turn originating as a patronymic], an alternate anglicization of Mac Dhuibhshíthe (McPhee).
- A suburb of Canberra, Australia; named for Charles Gavan Duffy, 8th Premier of Victoria.
- An unincorporated community in Ohio Township, Monroe County, Ohio, United States.
- An unincorporated community in Lewis County, West Virginia, United States.
Forms of duffy
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | duffies |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Duffys |
| alternative form | O'Duffy |
| alternative form | Duffey |
| alternative form | Duhy |
| alternative form | Duhig |
| alternative form | Dowey |
| alternative form | Douey |
| alternative form | Dooey |
| alternative form | Doey |
Origin of duffy
From the Irish surname, from Ó Dubhthaigh (literally “descendant of Dubhthach”) and Mac Duibhshíthe (literally “son of Duibhshíth”), from dubh (“black”) + sìth (“peace”), comparable to the surname Duff.
Words formed from duffy
Phrases with duffy
Words that rhyme with duffy
Questions about duffy
- What does duffy mean?
- Duffy means a surname from Irish, an anglicization of Ó Dubhthaigh (“descendant of Dubhthach”). Dubhthach is a byname derived from dubh (“black”).
- What is duffy the archaic form of?
- Duffy is the archaic form of duppy.
- What part of speech is duffy?
- Duffy is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce duffy?
- Duffy is pronounced /ˈdʌfi/.
Words near duffy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: duffy (page history and authors); Duffy (page history and authors); duppy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “duffy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/duffy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.