toupee

[ too-pey ]

noun

1. a man's wig.
2. a patch of false hair for covering a bald spot.
3. (formerly) a curl or an artificial lock of hair on the top of the head, especially as a crowning feature of a periwig.

toupee

/ ˈtuːpeɪ /

noun

1. a wig or hairpiece worn, esp by men, to cover a bald or balding place
2. (formerly) a prominent lock on a periwig, esp in the 18th century

Word History and Origins

Origin of toupee¹

1720–30; variant of toupet < French, equivalent to Old French to ( u ) p tuft (< Germanic; top ¹ ) + -et -et

Word History and Origins

Origin of toupee¹

C18: apparently from French toupet forelock, from Old French toup top, of Germanic origin; see top ¹

Example Sentences

Or Mr. Carmine, a Yonkers toupee-maker with a thick Italian accent and a (very) full head of gray hair.

From The Daily Beast

With his broad, regal forehead, penetrating eyes, and startlingly black toupee, Atabay is an intimidating figure.

From The Daily Beast

When everybody who is after a key military job wears a toupee, it is obviously a bald case of espionage.

From Project Gutenberg

The toupee episode was probably nothing more than a crazy coincidence anyway.

From Project Gutenberg

Applicant number three, Mr. Boles, was not only wearing a toupee but had gone one step further.

From Project Gutenberg

He was a short, thick-set man, with his white-grey hair carefully brushed up into a toupee, the fashion of his youth.

From Project Gutenberg

Yet the Doctor, whose heels were thicker and his toupee higher, was six feet two without those advantages.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• hairpiece