Coiffures

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Arrangements of hair that are styled in a particular way for aesthetic appeal
2. Elaborate hairstyles typically created for formal occasions or to express individuality
3. Fashioned hairdos that often involve intricate techniques and accessories for enhancing appearance

Etymology: "Coiffures" is the plural of "coiffure," a noun for a styled arrangement of hair. The English word was borrowed directly from French, where "coiffure" has the same sense. Its ancestry runs back to Late Latin "cofia," a word for a close-fitting cap, which passed into Old French as "coife," meaning a cap or headcovering. That is the root of the whole family: the French word for a hairdo is, at heart, a word for the thing that covered the head. The French "coiffure" was formed by adding a suffix to "coiffer," "to dress the hair," itself derived from "coife." The suffix "-ure," inherited through Old French from Latin "-(ā)tūra," marks an action or the result of an action, so a "coiffure" is literally the outcome of coiffing, or hair-dressing. English took the word in its finished French form, keeping the sense of arrangement rather than the cap it came from.

Synonyms: hairstyles, hairdos, haircuts