bufo

From translingual Bufo marinus (now Rhinella marina), the cane toad, from Latin būfō (“toad”).

bufo (plural bufos)

1. (Hawaii, slang) toad, frog

• IPA^(key): /buˈfo/ [bʊˈfɔ]
• Hyphenation: bu‧fo

bufó f

1. camel fat

• E. M. Parker; R. J. Hayward (1985), “bufo”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN

bufo

1. first-person singular present indicative of bufar

Borrowed from Latin būfo (“toad”). Compare Italian buffone, Spanish bufón, Hawaiian English bufo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbufo/

• Audio 1:

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• Audio 2:

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• Rhymes: -ufo
• Syllabification: bu‧fo

bufo (accusative singular bufon, plural bufoj, accusative plural bufojn)

1. toad

• ranido
• rano

From Latin būfo (“toad”).

bufo

1. toad

bufo

1. first-person singular present indicative of bufar

Probably loaned from a different Italic language such as Oscan, where the word could have referred to any creeping small animal such as a hamster. The connection with Proto-Slavic *žaba (“toad”) is uncertain, as the initial vowel cannot reflect a common Indo-European origin.^[1]

Usually connected with Latin bōs, bovis (“cow”),^[2][3][4] reflecting an ancient folk belief that toads — among other animals — were thought to steal milk from livestock. More specifically, būfō is derived from an ancient compound of Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”) and *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suckle”). A very close parallel to this derivation can be found in Albanian thithëlopë (“toad”, literally “cow-sucker”). Compare typologically Latin caprimulgus (“nightjar”, literally “goat-milker”), Proto-Slavic *(s)mъlžь (< Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-, whence also English milk).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈbuː.foː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈbuː.fo]

būfō m (genitive būfōnis); third declension

1. a toad

Third-declension noun.

• English: bufo
• Italian: buffone
• Sicilian: buffa
• Spanish: bufón
• Translingual: Bufo
• → Middle Irish: bufa
  • Irish: buaf
  • Manx: beayf

• “bufo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “bufo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “bufo”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “bufo”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

• IPA^(key): /ˈbuho/

bufo m

1. alternative form of buho
   • c. 1275, Alfonso X, General Estoria, primera parte, (ed. by Pedro Sánchez Prieto-Borja, Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 2002):

     Del comer de las aves. De las aves, que son otrossí las animalias del tercero elemento, les dixo assí, que nin comiessen águila [...] nin aztor nin bufo nin...

     On the eating of birds. Regarding birds, which are moreover the third element animals, He told them thus: they should not eat neither eagle, [...] nor goshawk, nor owl, nor...

• Hyphenation: bu‧fo

From Old Galician-Portuguese bufo, from Late Latin būfus (cognates include Spanish búho), itself either from Latin *būfō, from Faliscan *būfō, or more likely of onomatopoetic origin; cf. also Ancient Greek βοῦφος (boûphos). Compare to Latin būbō.

bufo m (plural bufos)

1. Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo)

   Synonym: corujão

2. (Portugal, colloquial) informant, snitch

   Synonyms: (Portugal, colloquial) chibo, delator, informante

From Italian buffo (“comical”).

bufo (feminine bufa, masculine plural bufos, feminine plural bufas)

1. (of an actor or plot) comical or burlesque

   Synonyms: burlesco, cómico

Deverbal from bufar.

bufo m (plural bufos)

1. an instance of puffing

   Synonym: bufada

bufo

1. first-person singular present indicative of bufar

• “bufo”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “bufo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): /ˈbufo/ [ˈbu.fo]
• Rhymes: -ufo
• Syllabification: bu‧fo

Borrowed from Italian buffo.

bufo m (plural bufos)

1. buffo

bufo

1. first-person singular present indicative of bufar

bufo

1. (Rioplatense, colloquial) clipping of bufoso

• “bufo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025