barrette

Alternative forms

• barette

Etymology

Borrowed from French barrette, from barre (“bar”) +‎ -ette, literally “small bar”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bəˈɹɛt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

barrette (plural barrettes)

1. A clasp or clip for gathering and holding the hair.

Verb

barrette (third-person singular simple present barrettes, present participle barretting, simple past and past participle barretted)

1. (transitive) To put (hair) into a barrette.
   • 2004, Glen Duncan, Death of an Ordinary Man‎, →ISBN:

     The standing woman is overweight, with scraped-back and barretted bleach- blond hair and a jowly face of detonated capillaries.

   • 2007, Rachel Kadish, Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story‎, →ISBN, page 219:

     With her barretted white hair, blue eyes, and deep green sweater, Victoria is as perfectly put together as ever.

   • 2010, Linda Lonsdorf, Family Threat‎, →ISBN, page 267:

     She pulled her long hair up and barretted it so that her long exotic earrings put the finishing touch to her exquisite appearance.

Anagrams

• batterer, berretta

Etymology 1

From barre +‎ -ette.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baʁɛt/

Noun

barrette f (plural barrettes)

1. small bar
2. barrette (US), (hair) slide (UK)
3. brooch
4. bar (of medal)
5. (colloquial) bar/slab of hash

Etymology 2

From Italian barretta.

Noun

barrette f (plural barrettes)

1. (religion) biretta

Further reading

• “barrette” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Noun

barrette f

1. plural of barretta

Anagrams

• berretta