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Glite Dictionary
🌱 A grass clump 🪑 A low footstool
tuffet

tuffet

1 9.9
A low padded seat used to rest your feet while you sit
  • noun
  • /ˈtʌfɪt/
  • Archaic
translation icon : taburete
  • He brought a small tuffet for her to use while reading in the garden.
  • sat on a tuffet

Examples

  • - Down... - Down on a tuffet.

    A Woman's Face (1941)

  • Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey...

    Fiction book (1990)

  • "Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet "Eating her curds and whey -"And along came a spider -(BUNNY SCREAMS)

    Arachnophobia (1990)

  • After a long day, she kicked off her shoes and rested her feet on the soft tuffet beside her chair.

  • During the story, Little Miss Muffet sat on a comfortable tuffet while enjoying her snacks.

Synonyms

ottoman
vstuffet
8 4.7

A low padded seat without a back or arms that you rest your feet on and use to store things

is smaller and focused on being a low padded seat for feet
footstool
vstuffet
7 2.7

A low seat for resting your feet while you sit

is often padded and serves as a small low seat for feet
footrest
vstuffet
3 2.2

A low support you put your feet on when you sit

is more of a small padded seat used both for feet and sitting
pouf
vstuffet
  • UK
1 6.6

A thick low cushion used as a seat or footstool

is usually a small padded seat rather than a loose cushion
subiculum
vstuffet
  • Archaic
9.9

A small low seat or footstool used in ancient homes

is the modern padded low seat form rather than an old bed or couch
taboret
vstuffet
9.9

A low round stool people use as a small seat or stand

is typically a padded low foot support rather than a hard drum stool

How Comfortable

recliner
18 3.1
armchair
42 1.0
tuffet
  • Archaic
1 9.9
footstool
7 2.7
stool
95 1.0

Surface Forms

tuffet singular
tuffets plural

Morphology

tuffet = tuft (semi-transparent) = tuft + et

The form is clearly tuft + diminutive suffix -et, but the 'low seat/footstool' sense is a figurative extension from a small clump to a small seat and is not immediately obvious to all learners.

Etymology

Tuffet comes from an old French word for tuft, a small 'bunch' of grass or cloth. Think of a soft little bunch you could sit on, like in the rhyme 'Little Miss Muffet'—that's why a tuffet is a low padded seat or footstool.