tampon

Etymology

[1848] Borrowed from French tampon, from Middle French tampion, a nasalised variant of tapon, a diminutive or augmented form of Old French tape (“plug, bung, tap”), from Frankish *tappo (“stopper, plug”), from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“plug, tap”). Cognate with Old High German zapfo (“stopper”), Old English tæppa (“stopper”). More at tap.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtæmˌpɒn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtæmˌpɑn/
• IPA^(key): [ˈtʰæmpʰɔn]

Noun

tampon (plural tampons)

1. A plug of cotton or other absorbent material inserted into a body cavity or wound to absorb fluid, especially one inserted in the vagina during menstruation.
2. A double-headed drumstick primarily for the bass drum.
3. An inking pad used in lithographic printing.

Verb

tampon (third-person singular simple present tampons, present participle tamponing, simple past and past participle tamponed)

1. (medicine, transitive) To plug (a wound) with a tampon or compress.

See also

• sanitary napkin, sanitary towel
• tampion

Anagrams

• pot man, potman, topman

Etymology

Nasalized variant of tapon, from Frankish *tappo, cognate with Dutch tappe, German Zapfen, Old English tæppa, English tap.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɑ̃.pɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

tampon m (plural tampons)

1. Piece of wood or other material to close an opening.

   …un petit orifice qui, pendant l'emplissage, est bouché par un tampon de bois.

   1. (musical instrument) Same, closing the opening of a flute, a saxophone.

      Tampons spéciaux montés sur plaques aluminium pour saxophone alto à tampons vissés.

   2. (boat) Same, closing a leak.

      Tampon d'étoupe.

2. (medical usage) A plug of cotton or other absorbent material inserted into a body cavity or wound to absorb fluid.

   Il monta chercher dans sa chambre, au premier étage, un petit tampon d'ouate; puis, comme le sang était sec et collait à la porcelaine, il humecta légèrement le coton avant de frotter. - Jules Romains, Hommes de bonne volonté, 1932.

3. tampon to stop menstruation.

   Tampon hygiénique.

4. sponge, piece of porous material.
   1. used for washing.

      tampon à récurer.

   2. to varnish or apply wax to a piece of furniture.

      vernissage au tampon.

   3. to apply ink.

      Tampon encreur.

5. stamp.

   Donner un coup de tampon.

6. (figuratively) mitigator, mediator, buffer between people having a dispute.
   • jouer le rôle de tampon.
   1. In this sense, often used in apposition, such as in solution tampon, État tampon, zone tampon, etc.
7. (chemistry) buffer

   Solution tampon.

8. (computing) buffer
9. Elastic part that prevents damaging when a collision occurs, e.g. buffer in rail transport.

References

• etymology

Further reading

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

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

tampon m inan

1. tampon

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tǎmpoːn/
• Hyphenation: tam‧pon

Noun

tàmpōn m (Cyrillic spelling та̀мпо̄н)

1. tampon