chiffon

Borrowed from French chiffon, from Middle French chiffe (“cloth, old rag”), from Old French chipe (“rag”), from Middle English chip, chippe (“chip, shard, fragment”), from Old English ċipp (“chip, splinter, shaving”); see chip.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɪˈfɑn/, /ˈʃɪfɑn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑn

chiffon (countable and uncountable, plural chiffons)

1. A lightweight, balanced plain-woven sheer fabric, or gauze, like gossamer, woven of alternate S- and Z-twist crepe (high-twist) yarns made of silk, polyester, or cotton.

   Her dresses are made from these marvelous chiffons.

2. Any purely ornamental accessory on a woman's dress, such as a bunch of ribbon, lace, etc.

From chiffe +‎ -on.

Chiffe is from Middle French chiffe (“cloth, old rag”) from Old French chipe (“rag”), from Middle English chip, chippe (“chip, shard, fragment”) from Old English ċipp (“chip, splinter, shaving”), from Old English *ċippian (“to chip, shave, splinter”), from Proto-West Germanic *kipp-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵey- (“to split; divide; germinate; sprout”). More at English chip.

• IPA^(key): /ʃi.fɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

chiffon m (plural chiffons)

1. rag
2. scrap

   Synonym: loque

• chiffonner
• parler chiffons
• causer chiffons
• poupée de chiffon

• → Catalan: xifó
• → English: chiffon
• → Spanish: chifón
• → Portuguese: chiffon

• “chiffon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Unadapted borrowing from French chiffon.

• Hyphenation: chif‧fon

chiffon m (uncountable)

1. chiffon (sheer silk or rayon fabric)