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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

nappy.

An absorbent garment worn by a baby or toddler who does not yet have voluntary control of their bladder and bowels or by someone who is incontinent; a diaper.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈnæpi/
  1. An absorbent garment worn by a baby or toddler who does not yet have voluntary control of their bladder and bowels or by someone who is incontinent; a diaper.

    Australia · Ireland · New-Zealand · South-Africa · UK
Where this word comes from

A diminutive in -y. The base is probably napkin but possibly French nappe directly (note that napkin is already a diminutive).

verb/ˈnæpi/
  1. To put a nappy on.

    transitive
    The mother nappied the baby.
Where this word comes from

A diminutive in -y. The base is probably napkin but possibly French nappe directly (note that napkin is already a diminutive).

adj/ˈnæpi/
  1. Having a nap (of cloth etc.); downy; shaggy.

  2. Of hair: tightly curled or twisted; frizzy (often specifically in reference to Afro textured hair)

    US · informal · offensive · sometimes
  3. Inclined to sleep; sleepy.

    rare
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English nap Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English nappy From nap + -y.

noun/ˈnæpi/
  1. A shallow, flat-bottomed earthenware or glass bowl with sloping sides.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English nap, from Old English hnæp, hnæpp, hnæpf (“cup, bowl”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnapp, from Proto-Germanic *hnappaz (“bowl, goblet, cup”). See hanaper.

adj/ˈnæpi/
  1. Foamy; having a large head.

  2. Nervous, excitable.

noun/ˈnæpi/
  1. A kind of strong ale; nappy ale.

    obsolete · uncountable
adj/ˈnæpi/
  1. Brittle.

    Scotland
Where this word comes from

Related to knap.

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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.