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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

coif.

A hairdo.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kwɑf//kɔɪf/
  1. A hairdo.

  2. A hood; a close-fitting cap covering much of the head, widespread until the 18th century; after that worn only by small children and country women.

    historical
  3. A similar item of mail armour covering the head.

    historical
  4. An official headdress, such as that worn by certain judges in England.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English coif, coife, coyf, coyfe, coyffe, from Old French coife, coiffe, from Late Latin cofia, from Proto-West Germanic *kuffju, related to Old High German kupphia, kupha, kupfe (“mug, hood, cap”), from Proto-Germanic *kuppijǭ (“cap, hat, bonnet, headpiece”), Proto-Germanic *kuppō (“vat, mug, cup”), from pre-Germanic *kubná-, from Proto-Indo-European *gup- (“round object, knoll”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve, arch, vault”). Cognate with Middle High German kupfe (“cap, headgear, helmet”).

verb/kwɑf//kɔɪf/
  1. To style or arrange hair.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English coifen, from Old French coifier, from the noun (see above).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.