What it means
A cozy, kid-friendly word for a stuffed animal or plush toy. It’s the bedtime sidekick that rides in the car, falls off the bed, and somehow always needs rescuing from somewhere weird. Most common in Canadian English, though adults use it too when they’re being a bit soft or jokingly sweet. Also spelled stuffy sometimes.
Usage examples
"I left my kid’s stuffie at Grandma’s and she had a full meltdown, so we had to drive back and do the rescue mission."
"She will not go to sleep without her favourite stuffie."
"The lost and found was a pile of mittens and forgotten stuffies."
"Can you grab her stuffie from the back seat or we’re not making it out of the driveway."
"He’s twenty-eight and still calls that ragged old bear his childhood stuffie, which is honestly pretty cute."
Where it comes from
Stuffie is a pet-name style shortening of stuffed toy, built from stuff- plus the affectionate -ie ending that English uses for cozy, child-centered words. It’s especially common in Canadian English, where it became the everyday family word for a kid’s plush toy or stuffed animal.
This expression also appears in
