chiffon

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic šiff (šiff) شف "diaphanous fabric, gauze" + Arabic 'an ('an) عن "to shimmer through, reveal, disclose"; Middle French French chiffon, chiffe "cloth, old rag" from Old French chipe "rag", from Middle English chip, chippe "chip, shard, fragment" from Old English ċipp "chip, splinter, beam" from Proto-Germanic *kippaz, *kipaz (“log, beam”). Akin to Old Saxon kip "beam, post", Old High German kipfa "axle-rod, stave". More at chip

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

chiffon (plural chiffons)

1. A sheer silk or rayon fabric.

   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.

Etymology

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, beam”) from Proto-Germanic *kippaz, *kipaz (“log, beam”). Akin to Old Saxon kip (“beam, post”), Old High German kipfa (“axle-rod, stave”). More at chip.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃi.fɔ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

chiffon m (plural chiffons)

1. rag
2. scrap (of paper)

Further reading

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

Noun

chiffon m (uncountable)

1. chiffon (sheer silk or rayon fabric)