chuffed

Chuffed is British slang for very pleased or delighted. If someone says they’re chuffed, something has gone well and they’re a little proud of it.

What chuffed means

Merriam-Webster defines it as quite pleased, delighted. You’ll often hear it boosted: “well chuffed,” “dead chuffed” or “chuffed to bits.” It’s warm and slightly understated, the way British people tend to express happiness. Someone who just passed their driving test is chuffed. Someone who won the lottery might be beyond chuffed.

The negative version is usually an understatement: “none too chuffed,” an example Collins gives, means not happy at all.

Examples

• “Got the flat! Absolutely chuffed.”
• “He was chuffed to bits with his birthday present.”
• “She won’t be too chuffed when she sees the bill.”

Where it came from

Merriam-Webster traces it to the English dialect word “chuff,” meaning pleased or puffed up with fat, and gives a first known use of 1957. Dictionary.com records something odd: an older, separate “chuffed” from the early 1800s that meant the opposite, displeased, from a southern English dialect word for surly. That sense has faded, which is why “chuffed” now almost always means happy.

A common mix-up

Because “chuffed” sounds a bit like “huffy,” some non-British speakers guess it means annoyed. It doesn’t, at least not anymore. If a Brit says they’re chuffed, congratulate them.

Related terms

• Gutted: very disappointed, the opposite.
• Gassed: excited, in UK youth slang.
• Gobsmacked: astonished.

See more terms like this in our British slang guide.