Word.ws English Dictionary

fig leaf

fig leaf noun: a leaf of the fig plant.

fig leaf: a leaf of the fig plant
Image: VAwebteam VAwebteam, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

fig leaf (plural fig leaves)

  1. A leaf of the fig plant.
  2. A representation of leaf of a fig plant used to cover the genitals of a nude figure in a work of art (alluding to Genesis iii 7, in which Adam and Eve use fig leaves to hide their nakedness).
    • This figleaf morality expresses a very unhealthy mental attitude.1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 107
  3. (figuratively) Anything used to conceal something undesirable or that one does not want to be discovered.
    • True, David Brog, one of the organizers of last week’s conference, insisted that national conservatives are not anti-immigrant. But this is a fig leaf. [University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy] Wax explicitly made an argument for limiting the number of nonwhites entering the US.2019 July 24, David Austin Walsh, “Flirting With Fascism”, in Jewish Currents
    • In fact, speaking of paedos, the prime minister chose to use one as a figleaf.2022 February 1, Marina Hyde, “Never mind wine fridges, the Tory party is drunk on Kool-Aid”, in The Guardian

Forms of fig leaf

pluralfig leaves
alternative formfig-leaf
alternative formfigleaf

Origin of fig leaf

From Middle English *figge leef (attested in the plural figge leves), a partial calque of Old English fīclēaf (“fig leaf”). By surface analysis, fig + leaf.

Words formed from fig leaf

Questions about fig leaf

What does fig leaf mean?
Fig leaf means a leaf of the fig plant.
What part of speech is fig leaf?
Fig leaf is a noun.
What is the plural of fig leaf?
The plural of fig leaf is fig leaves.

Words near fig leaf in the dictionary

  1. FIFY
  2. fig
  3. Fig Garden
  4. fig insect
  5. fig insects
  6. fig leaf
  7. fig leaves
  8. fig marigold
  9. fig marigolds
  10. fig out
  11. fig parrot

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fig leaf (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fig leaf.wav.

Cite this entry: “fig leaf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fig_leaf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.