pedicure
Americannoun
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professional care and treatment of the feet, as removal of corns and trimming of toenails.
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a single treatment of the feet.
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a podiatrist.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pedicure
From the French word pédicure, dating back to 1835–45. See pedi-, cure
Explanation
A pedicure is a treatment for your feet that feels good and usually leaves you with brightly painted toenails. You might have a pedicure as part of a visit to a spa — your toenails will be trimmed, filed, and polished, and your feet might even be massaged. When the attention is focused on your toes, it's a pedicure, while the same kind of treatment on your hands and fingernails is called a manicure. The word pedicure has Latin roots: ped, or "foot," and curare, "to care for."
Vocabulary lists containing pedicure
Body Language: Ped, Pod ("Foot")
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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:
I think it may be the single most revolting pedicure in the history of film.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
The head of Congress has demanded that MP Lucinda Vasquez be punished after she was photographed lounging on a sofa in her office while an adviser gave her a pedicure.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2025
Parts of his and, especially, her toes needed repainting from scratch, with the intact imagery in the Uffizi pair used as a helpful guide to the painterly pedicure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
In the video the rapper can be seen sitting in a chair with his feet in a basin as someone, who has been blurred out of the video, gives him a pedicure.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2023
Tess was filling me in on the latest gossip while I gave myself a pedicure.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
The nail salon where we’d last enjoyed pedicures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
The spa also offers a full menu of services, including massages, waxing, manicures, and pedicures.
From Salon ● May 28, 2025
If you are generally in good health, regular pedicures at a nail salon may be an option — and allow you to avoid the cost of uncovered services at a podiatrist’s office, Kor says.
From Washington Post ● May 1, 2023
After stripping those out, services inflation — which includes health care, restaurant meals, pedicures and other non-goods purchases — has remained unusually rapid and has shown little sign of slowing down.
From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2023
Grammy will never go for pedicures or enjoy shopping for pretty dresses.
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
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.
