BBC Learning English
Keep Your English Up To Date
5th May 2009
Buff
Buff  B-U-F-F.  That new girl in our class is well buff . This is an adjective which, in
youth slang, means attractive or well-toned. Somebody who is buff has an attractive body,
they look  fit .
I guess one of the difficult things for anyone trying to learn English, and trying to keep up
with the latest vocabulary, is the fact that some words seem to have so many different and
totally unrelated meanings. How on earth are they supposed to know which is the correct
meaning?
Well, of course, context is important. By looking at the context in which you see or hear the
word, you should be able to work out which meaning is most likely when you look it up.
 Buff is one of those words which has several meanings and whose latest meaning may not
be in your dictionary at all.
As a noun it is often used to describe a person who is really into a particular hobby or pastime.
It s usually combined with the word describing the hobby, so a film buff is someone who
really loves film and probably knows quite a lot about it. The word 'buff' here implies an
enthusiastic or almost obsessional interest in something.
As a verb  to buff means to polish or shine something with a cloth, to give something a shiny
finish. This meaning is said to come from the word 'buffalo', an animal whose skin was used
for leather and this leather was in turn often used to polish metal objects. From there came the
adjective  buff , meaning a dull yellow colour, the colour of the buffalo leather.
And more recently, as an adjective it has come to mean  attractive or  fit . It s not exactly
clear why. Perhaps because a well-toned, tanned, fit person may look buff, like they ve just
been  buffed , so they have a kind of  polished look.
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There is one last expression with  buff which you should probably know, and that is  in the
buff  it means naked, with no clothes on. This might be because the original meaning of
'buff' referred to leather or skin so  in the buff means just in our skin.
Anyway, at least now if you see a  buff buff buffing in the buff you ll know what it means!
Jim Pettiward has a BA (hons) in French and Spanish, CTEFLA and Trinity TESOL Diploma.
He has taught EFL, EAP, ESP and Business English in Ecuador, Venezuela, Hungary and the
UK. He has also worked as an ICT trainer for the British Council and the University of the
Arts, London. He is currently teaching English for Academic Purposes in the Department of
Humanities, Arts, Languages and Education at London Metropolitan University.
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bbclearningenglish.com