Wiktionary

pigtail

English

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A young girl with unbraided pigtails.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From pig +‎ tail.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pigtail (plural pigtails)

  1. (literally) The tail of a pig.
  2. Tobacco twisted into a string or roll. [from 17th c.]
    • 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 265:
      One person […] continued constantly to ply him with the very best pig-tail tobacco, which he had most carefully cut in very small pieces purposely for him.
  3. A braided plait of hair; queue. [from 18th c.]
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
      Such a filthy spectacle as we presented I have never seen before or since, and it will perhaps give some idea of the almost superhuman dignity of Billali's appearance when I say that, coughing, half-drowned, and covered with mud and green slime as he was, with his beautiful beard coming to a dripping point, like a Chinaman's freshly-oiled pig-tail, he still looked venerable and imposing.
    1. (now especially) Either of a pair of braids or tails worn on the sides of the head.
      • 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 12:
        [I]t was something that every schoolboy of my generation almost `had' to do, as obligatory a proof of impending manliness as scrumping apples or pulling girls' pigtails.
    2. (in the plural) A hairstyle with a pair of pigtails.
    3. (colloquial, in the plural) A person who wears pigtails. [from 1911]
      • [2021 October 26, Peter Baker, “The Case Against Winston Churchill”, in The New York Times‎[1], →ISSN:
        […] Chinese, whom he called “pigtails”; or Indians, whom he dismissed as “baboos.”]
  4. (electrical engineering) A short length of twisted electrical wire. [from 20th c.]
    Synonym: tail
  5. The flamingo flower (anthurium)
  6. (medicine) Twisted stent terminal; stent-end, usually but not necessarily a different fastened part.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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