pith helmet

American  

noun

1. a hat made of dried pith or cork covered with cloth, worn in the tropics.

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pith helmet British  

noun

1. Also called: topee.   topi.  a lightweight hat made of pith that protects the wearer from the sun

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Etymology

Origin of pith helmet

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

Among her many dancers, I spy a nurse, an astronaut, a UPS delivery guy — even a dude in a pith helmet.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2026

In the show we find him turning the design for a divination board into a tea tray, and carving a portrait of a British official dressed in conspicuously snazzy Yoruba slippers and a pith helmet.

From New York Times • Oct. 16, 2022

Today, such activism seems as passé as a pith helmet.

From Scientific American • Feb. 1, 2021

We will remember her for wearing a white pith helmet to Kenya and for smiling so rarely that shots of her grinning created “Fake Melania” conspiracy theories.

From Slate • Nov. 7, 2020

She was tall, dressed in white, wearing a pith helmet with veils that floated across her face, settled around her shoulders, and trailed down her back.

From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd