chiffon

Etymology

It is borrowed from French chiffon, literally a rag,^[2][3][4] from chiffe (“rag, flimsy stuff”),^[2][5][6][7] with the noun suffix -on.^[8] Littré defined the French word as any item of women's dress that serves only for adornment, and its first sense as a piece of old cloth or paper.^[2] Etymonline dates both French words to the 17th century.^[6] The origin of chiffe is uncertain:^[5][6][9] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the American Heritage Dictionary take it as an alteration of Middle French chipe, from Middle English chip (“chip, wood shaving”), influenced by chiffre (“zero, thing of no value”),^[3][10] and Weekley and Etymonline also suggest a link with chip;^[4][6] Klein and Dictionary.com instead derive it from Arabic, from a word for a light, sheer garment.^[11][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the plural, the ornaments and trimmings added to a woman's dress, and also such matters of dress as a subject of talk: 1765, in a letter of the Earl of March.^[2][3][6] Barnhart dates the sense to 1756.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English for the finery of a woman's dress, a sense the Shorter Oxford now marks archaic.^[12][2] From 1890 it named a sheer, light fabric of fine twisted yarn, at first of silk and later of nylon and other fibres,^[2][6] and the word was soon used attributively of things as light as the fabric.^[2][3] By 1929 it was used in cooking for a pie with a light filling of beaten egg whites or gelatin,^[2][5][6] probably for its lightness.^[6]

Timeline

• 1765 – in the plural, the trimmings of a woman's dress.^[2][3][6] Barnhart gives 1756.^[5]
• 1890 – a sheer, light fabric of silk or similar yarn.^[2][6]
• 1903 – adjective, as sheer or soft as chiffon.^[3]
• 1929 – a pie with a light filling of beaten egg whites or gelatin.^[2][5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sheer, very light fabric of silk, nylon or another fibre: a scarf of pale blue chiffon.^[13][3][2]
2. (archaic) In the plural, the ornaments and trimmings of a woman's dress.^[12][2][13]

Adjective

1. Made of chiffon, or as sheer and soft as chiffon.^[13][3]
2. Of a pie, cake or pudding: having a light, fluffy texture made with beaten egg whites or gelatin: an orange chiffon cake.^[13][3][2]

Word family

• chiffony
• chiffon cake
• chiffon pie

Related words

• chip
• chiffonier

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins