diaper
Americannoun
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diapers
plural
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a piece of cloth or other absorbent material folded and worn as underpants by a baby not yet toilet-trained.
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Also called diaper cloth. a linen or cotton fabric with a woven pattern of small, constantly repeated figures, as diamonds.
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Also called diaper pattern. such a pattern, originally used in the Middle Ages in weaving silk and gold.
verb (used with object)
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diapers,
present (3rd person singular)
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diapered,
past participle, past
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diapering
present participle
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to put a diaper on.
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to ornament with a diaperlike pattern.
noun
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Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): nappy. a piece of soft material, esp towelling or a disposable material, wrapped around a baby in order to absorb its excrement
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a woven pattern on fabric consisting of a small repeating design, esp diamonds
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fabric having such a pattern
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such a pattern, used as decoration
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verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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diapersimple
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diaperssimple
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have diaperedperfect
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has diaperedperfect
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am diaperingprogressive
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are diaperingprogressive
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is diaperingprogressive
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have been diaperingperfect progressive
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has been diaperingperfect progressive
Past
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diaperedsimple
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had diaperedperfect
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was diaperingprogressive
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were diaperingprogressive
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had been diaperingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of diaper
1300–50; Middle English diapre < Anglo-French dia(s)p(r)e < Medieval Latin diasprus made of diaper < Medieval Greek díaspros pure white, equivalent to Greek di- di- 3 ( def. ) + Medieval Greek áspros white
Explanation
A diaper is what babies wear before they’re potty trained. It’s a white cloth or other disposable fabric that’s folded up between the baby’s legs to catch the poop and whatnot. Awwww, isn’t that cute? In many countries, a diaper is also called a "nappy.” A baby can wear a diaper, but you can also diaper a baby, which means to put a diaper on. The word diaper comes from an Old French root, diaspre meaning "ornamental cloth." Over time it also came to mean a "towel or napkin" and by the 1830s, it had the modern sense of a cloth used to swaddle a baby's bottom.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But some fussing was inevitable, and we had to make plenty of extra stops for diaper changes, bottles, or just to take a break from the carseat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Then, hoping to avoid any urgent diaper events, I ducked into the next room and dialed up the president.
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026
All three of her kids wear the same size diaper, regardless of age—a system she devised to avoid tracking multiple sizes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
"My daughter was wearing a diaper, they took it off," Amal says.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2026
My mom once told me that she always knew what my cries meant, each one a little different: hungry, a wet diaper, tired, wanting attention.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
“Consumers are clearly under increased pressure,” said Mike Hsu, chief executive of Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Huggies diapers and Scott paper towels, on an earnings call last week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
The maker of Scott paper towels, Cottonelle toilet paper and Huggies diapers now says it has made a breakthrough.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
At the beginning of this year, we wrapped him in diapers, since he no longer knew how to get outside.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
They managed to find diapers, bottles of water, toilet paper and some food.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
He blinked and yawned and wiggled and wet his diapers a little more, and waited.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
The diapered babies racing down the baseline to mom or dad?
From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2025
Even our diapered kids went when it was potty time.
From Slate ● Jun. 10, 2021
The relationship is both greater and more primal, and it compares with the developmental strides that play out between mother and baby, and that help to turn a diapered mess into a normal, healthy person.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 10, 2020
Deckard remembers seeing the white bottle of Johnson’s Baby Powder on the changing table where her mother diapered her new sister.
From Reuters ● Dec. 14, 2018
There was Lancelot, no longer in armour but dressed in a magnificent velvet robe, scalloped and diapered.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
The other was a close friend, Stefanie Robinson, a paraprofessional who worked with students with severe disabilities, including those requiring help with feeding and diapering.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2024
Younger children require more support in diapering and self-help skills such as self-regulation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2024
“It’s going to be useful to the diapering world,” says Conz Preti, parenting and health editor at the online news site Insider.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 1, 2021
The FDA’s June 1985 risk assessment relied upon a decade-old letter from the company for the agency’s estimate of the amount of dust babies were exposed to during diapering.
From Reuters ● Dec. 3, 2019
As a specimen of fine and beautiful diapering in gold, this could scarcely be surpassed.
From Handbook of Embroidery by Marianne Margaret Compton Cust, Viscountess Alford
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
