pluff

Pluff is a Scottish dialect word with a softness baked right into its sound. It can mean a powder puff used by a hairdresser, the action of using one, or a light puff of smoke or dust. There's something wonderfully onomatopoeic about it — 'pluff' sounds exactly like what it describes: a soft, airy little burst of something. It's dialect-specific and old-fashioned, but the kind of word that immediately makes sense the moment you hear it.