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wig

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Pronunciation

wig1 bun, small cake

Etymology

The bun is inherited from Middle English wigge,[2][3] borrowed from Middle Low German wigge (“wedge, wedge-shaped cake”) or wigge,[4][2][3][5] a by-form of wegge.[4] It is related to Dutch wig (“wedge”),[4] Middle Dutch wegge, Old High German weggi[3] and Old English wecg, the source of wedge.[2][3] The cake was named after its wedge shape.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A kind of bun or small cake of fine flour: 1376, in a London guild record.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word survived mainly in Scotland and in dialect,[5] where Wright's dialect dictionary records it as an obsolete kind of fine bread in Scotland and as a bun or cake in many English counties from Northumberland to Devon.[6] The Shorter Oxford describes it as a small bun made with currants and butter,[5] and Merriam-Webster as a British bun flavoured with spices and caraway seeds.[3]

Timeline

  • 1376 – a bun or small cake.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (British, now chiefly Scottish and dialect) A small bun, flavoured with caraway seeds and spices or made with currants.[3][5][6]

wig2 false hair

Etymology

The false hair is a shortened form of periwig,[4][7][8][9][10] as winkle is of periwinkle.[4][5] Periwig (1520s) was a popular alteration of peruke,[7][11][10] borrowed from Middle French perruque,[7][4] which came from Italian perrucca, a word of unknown origin.[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

An artificial covering of hair for the head: 1675, in The Character of a Town-gallant.[4][3][8] Etymonline gives the 1670s.[7]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it simply as false hair worn on the head.[13] As part of professional dress, the Shorter Oxford notes, wigs are now worn only by judges and barristers.[5] By 1828 a wig could also be a person who wears one professionally, a dignitary, compare bigwig.[4][7] A wig or wigging was a severe scolding from 1789,[4][14] and the verb to wig, to scold, from 1829;[4][7] Ayto and the Oxford Dictionary of English link this with the idea of a rebuke from a bigwig.[11][15] The verb in the sense "to supply with a wig" dates from 1826,[4][8][7] replacing the earlier bewig.[7] Phrases include dash my wig, a mild oath (1797), and the Irish wigs on the green, a fight (1856);[4][7] in Scotland and the north of England wigs on the green meant lively doings or a row.[6] In American slang to wig out, to lose control or go mad, is recorded from 1955,[4][7] which the OED compares with to flip one's wig.[4] The coarse hair on the shoulders of a full-grown male fur seal is technically its wig (1830).[4]

Timeline

  • 1675 – an artificial head of hair.[4][3][8]
  • 1789 – a severe scolding.[4][14]
  • 1797 – dash my wig.[4][7]
  • 1826 – verb, to supply with a wig.[4][8][3]
  • 1828 – a person who wears a wig professionally; a dignitary.[4][7]
  • 1829 – verb, to scold severely.[4][7]
  • 1830 – the coarse shoulder hair of a male fur seal.[4]
  • 1955 – wig out, to lose control (US slang).[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A covering of real or synthetic hair worn on the head to hide baldness, as part of a costume or official dress, or for fashion: The actor wore a grey wig for the second act.[16][3][4]
  2. (British slang) A severe telling-off; a wigging.[4][14]

Verb

  1. To supply with a wig, or put a wig on.[3][4][16]
  2. (British slang) To scold severely.[3][16][4]
  3. wig out (US slang): to lose one's composure, or become wildly excited.[3][4]

Word family

  • wigless
  • wiglike
  • unwig
  • bewigged
  • bigwig
  • wiggery

Usage notes

The OED and the Shorter Oxford also record two rare northern words spelled wig: the phrase from wig to wall, backwards and forwards, from Old Norse veggr (“wall”) (1602),[4][5][6] and a verb meaning to wag or move from side to side (before 1529), compare wiggle.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins