[MOO-fleh] (n. f.) To muffle a kitchen fire the housewife throws a towel on it, smothering it. To muffle a scream the murderer puts pillow on his victim's head. To muffle is to wrap something to conceal or protect. Its French origin is the moufle, an item of winter clothing meant to conceal or protect only the hands: a mitten. Okay but where does that leave us with mitten which doesn't resemble moufle? The word was borrowed phonetically from the French mitaine (pronounced exactly the same way) but with some confusion: that's the word for fingerless glove. Go figure. moufle — MITTEN
[MOO-fleh] (n. f.) To muffle a kitchen fire the housewife throws a towel on it, smothering it. To muffle a scream the murderer puts pillow on his victim's head. To muffle is to wrap something to conceal or protect. Its French origin is the moufle, an item of winter clothing meant to conceal or protect only the hands: a mitten. Okay but where does that leave us with mitten which doesn't resemble moufle? The word was borrowed phonetically from the French mitaine (pronounced exactly the same way) but with some confusion: that's the word for fingerless glove. Go figure.