pigtail
Americannoun
-
a braid of hair hanging down the back of the head.
-
pigtails, two bunches of hair gathered and fastened on either side of the head, in braids or hanging freely.
-
tobacco in a thin, twisted roll.
-
Electricity.
-
a short, flexible wire used in connecting a stationary terminal with a terminal having a limited range of motion.
-
a short wire connected to an electric device, as a lead or ground.
-
noun
-
a bunch of hair or one of two bunches on either side of the face, worn loose or plaited
-
a twisted roll of tobacco
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pigtail
Explanation
A pigtail is a section of hair tied at the back or sides of a person's head so that it sticks out a little or hangs down. Although pigs only have one, pigtails often come in pairs. Some people think pigtails and braids are two different hairstyles (and often, a single pony tail to be a third), but others just call them all pigtails. The word, an American invention, originally described a twisted piece of chewing tobacco that was thought to resemble a pig's curly tail. The hairstyle was first called pigtails in the mid-1700s.
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:
A wiry longtime martial arts practitioner who sometimes wears his hair in long pigtail braids, the 53-year-old Nguyen plays the role of firearms sensei.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
Mitchell sat in the centre, wearing a pink floral silk shirt, with her hair in pigtail braids under a purple beret, and carrying a cane adorned with a small bear's head.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2023
The seat height can be adjusted via a new clamping mechanism that also serves to replace the pigtail cable to electrically couple the battery to the motor.
From The Verge ● Sep. 8, 2021
“All of it — the pigtail, the poofy part in the back, that roll of perfect curls near his neck.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 14, 2018
He snatched at her pigtail and pressed it to his wet moustache, kissing it vigorously.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
But "when I'm with Hyodol, I never get hurt", she said, holding the cuddly doll with pigtails and a pink gingham dress, provided by her local municipality.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
As the camera zoomed in, Anastacia strutted down the staircase, her hair in pigtails under a candy striped bucket hat, her midriff exposed by a crop top, in accordance with 1990s pop regulations.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025
Now he is raising a 4-year-old daughter with the help of Barnica’s younger brother; every weekend, they take her to see her grandmother, who knows how to braid her hair in pigtails.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2024
When she was 4 years old she met Martin Luther King Jr., who tugged playfully on her pigtails; at 17 she found herself at the Academy Awards, mingling with a bedazzlement of movie stars.
From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2023
The younger one, with a deep-brown tone like Jackson and plaited pigtails, grinned half a mouth of teeth and clutched a small furry thing in her hands.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
