fluffle

English

Etymology

Coined as a ghost word on the Wikipedia article Rabbit on 30 July 2007.[1] By surface analysis, fluff +‎ -le.

Pronunciation

Noun

fluffle (plural fluffles)

  1. (informal, collective) A group of rabbits.
    • 2017, D. Wallace Peach, Kari's Reckoning, →ISBN, →OCLC:
      Overhead, the late-day sky wore a ruby blush and puffy clouds scurried east like a fluffle of pink rabbits.
    • 2021, Scott R. Burson, All about the Bass: Searching for Treble in the Midst of a Pounding Culture War, →ISBN, →OCLC:
      [T]he camera follows Tate leaping into the arms of Steve McQueen, then floating through a fluffle of bunnies before joining a gyrating throng of revelers on the grotto pool deck
    • 2025, Jared Bush, directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, Zootopia 2 (film), spoken by Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde (Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman), United States: Walt Disney Studios:
      Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin): [sobbing; to Nick] I should never have left you. And I do need a herd of therapy animals, and I should have told you that you're the only partner I would ever want because… you're my fluffle.
      Nick (Jason Bateman): [perplexed; to Judy] Hm... Um...?
      Judy: [sobbing; to Nick] That's a bunch of rabbits!

Verb

fluffle (third-person singular simple present fluffles, present participle fluffling, simple past and past participle fluffled)

  1. (transitive, informal) To fluff up.
    • 2013, Tony Beck, The Quest of Millie Blackbeard, page 69:
      Graham fluffled his fur and gave Baggly a weak smile.

References

  1. ^ Ben Zimmer (28 June 2023), “fluffle”, in ADS-L[1], American Dialect Society