Word.ws English Dictionary

fumf

fumf verb: synonym of fumfer (“to speak awkwardly or evasively; to fiddle or fumble”).

Verb

fumf (third-person singular simple present fumfs, present participle fumfing, simple past and past participle fumfed)

  1. (rare) Synonym of fumfer (“to speak awkwardly or evasively; to fiddle or fumble”).
    • '"To me,' Bill says, "Mulcahy is a pretty straight guy who doesn't quite have a handle on everything, and there's a little bit of 'fumfing' [a favorite word of Bill's] and confusion."1983, David S. Reiss, quoting William Christopher, “William Christopher”, in M*A*S*H: The Exclusive, Inside Story of TV's Most Popular Show, Indianapolis, I.N.; New York, N.Y.: The Bobbs-Merrill...
    • The other day while I was fumfing on the viewer's panel, something curious happened — when I pressed a particular spot, the pot, which was uppermost in my mind at the moment, materialized on the screen. I'm gonna see if I can find that spot again . . . for starters. . . .1995, Nancy Bogen, Bagatelle·Guinevere, New York, N.Y.: The Twickenham Press, →ISBN, page 262
    Synonyms:
    fumfer

Noun

fumf

  1. (onomatopoeic) The sound of rushing air or a dull impact.
    • I hit the Bruckner Expressway and turned the music up until I could feel the bass in my breastbone. Then I heard the fumf of a blown tire.2012, Nichole Bernier, The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D., New York, N.Y.: Broadway Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 200
    • Letting my horrifically knotted hair tumble across my face, I close my eyes, then startle at the ripe fumf of Leigh's backpack hitting the floor.2017, Rebecca Podos, Like Water, New York, N.Y.: Belzer + Bray, →ISBN, page 228

Synonyms of fumf

Forms of fumf

third-person singular presentfumfs
present participlefumfing
past participlefumfed
pastfumfed

Origin of fumf

Borrowed from Yiddish פֿאָנפֿען (fonfen, “to speak with a nasal twang, to mumble”). Compare fumfer.

Onomatopoeic.

Questions about fumf

What does fumf mean?
Fumf means synonym of fumfer (“to speak awkwardly or evasively; to fiddle or fumble”).
What part of speech is fumf?
Fumf can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of fumf?
The past tense of fumf is fumfed.

Words near fumf in the dictionary

  1. fumette
  2. fumetti
  3. fumetto
  4. fumewort
  5. fumeworts
  6. fumf
  7. fumfed
  8. fumfer
  9. fumfered
  10. fumfering
  11. fumferred

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fumf (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.

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Cite this entry: “fumf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fumf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.