fumfer
UK/ˈfʌmfə//ˈfəmfər/
fumfer verb: to speak awkwardly or evasively; to dither, waffle.
Verb
fumfer (third-person singular simple present fumfers, present participle fumfering, simple past and past participle fumfered)
- To speak awkwardly or evasively; to dither, waffle.
- She fumfered around and refused to give a straight answer.
- In school, Dr. Noah heard lectures on [Sigmund] Freud, [Carl] Jung and [Alfred] Adler. There wasn't much chance to try out their ideas in Monticello. Pragmatic medicine was practiced up there. To fumfer with the locals, any dreams, say what's in the mind, what do you see in the blots, would produce...1975, Harvey Jacobs, “[First Steps in the Age of the Atom] Thursday”, in Summer on a Mountain of Spices, New York, N.Y.; […]: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 192
- To fiddle or fumble.
- I fumfered with the USB stick, trying and failing to plug it in.
- There was a candle on the nightstand, she remembered. After a great deal of fumbling and fumfering around in the dark, she managed to get it lighted.1995, Marcia Rose, “That Night”, in Like Mother, Like Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 236
Examples of fumfer in a sentence
- To fumfer with the locals, any dreams, say what's in the mind, what do you see in the blots, would produce too many complications.1975, Harvey Jacobs, “[First Steps in the Age of the Atom] Thursday”, in Summer on a Mountain of Spices, New York, N.Y.; […]: Harper & Row...
- "I-don't-know-what-you-mean." / "Well, you know . . ." Liz fumfered.1983, David Marlow, chapter 32, in Winning Is Everything, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 108:
- Wrong-footed, Frank [Tarloff] fumfered some sort of response.2011 September 21, Erik Tarloff, “My Father Was a Communist”, in James Bennet, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly...
- At her first staff meeting all the grey hairs are fumfering about declining numbers.2017 February 10, Jordan Hoffman, “The seven most wonderfully ridiculous moments in Fifty Shades Darker”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The...
Synonyms of fumfer
Forms of fumfer
| third-person singular present | fumfers |
|---|---|
| present participle | fumfering |
| past participle | fumfered |
| past | fumfered |
| alternative form | phumpher |
| alternative form | fumper |
Origin of fumfer
From Yiddish פֿאָנפֿען (fonfen, “to speak with a nasal twang, to mumble”) + English -er (frequentative suffix). First attested in 1954. Compare fumf.
Questions about fumfer
- What does fumfer mean?
- Fumfer means to speak awkwardly or evasively; to dither, waffle.
- How do you use fumfer in a sentence?
- To fumfer with the locals, any dreams, say what's in the mind, what do you see in the blots, would produce too many complications.
- What part of speech is fumfer?
- Fumfer is a verb.
- How do you pronounce fumfer?
- Fumfer is pronounced /ˈfəmfər/ (US).
- What is the past tense of fumfer?
- The past tense of fumfer is fumfered.
Words near fumfer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fumfer (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-fumfer.wav.
Cite this entry: “fumfer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fumfer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.