'baffle' appears in English from the early modern period; its precise origin is uncertain but it may derive from dialectal or imitative forms such as 'baff' or 'baffe' in English, with meanings related to striking or checking.

'baffle' was used in earlier English with senses like 'to cuff or beat' (dialectal/obsolete). By the 17th–18th centuries it came to mean 'to confuse or embarrass'. In the 19th century a new concrete noun sense developed in engineering and acoustics for a 'device that obstructs or regulates flow', giving the modern technical meaning.

Initially it could mean 'to beat or check physically' (dialectal/obsolete); over time it evolved into 'to perplex or embarrass', and later also acquired a technical sense of 'a device that blocks, redirects, or attenuates flow'.