Word.ws English Dictionary

hairpin

UK/ˈhɛə.pɪn//ˈhɛɚ.pɪn/

hairpin noun: a pin or fastener for the hair.

hairpin: a pin or fastener for the hair
Image: LCharg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

hairpin (plural hairpins)

  1. A pin or fastener for the hair.
  2. A kind of ribozyme; hairpin ribozyme.
  3. (attributive) A very tight bend in a road; a hairpin bend.
    • The variety of angles in the course, from slow bends to hairpins, will both test your skill as a driver and allow you the opportunity to pass other carts.2009, Bob Sehlinger, Grant Rafter, Beyond Disney, page 280
  4. An elongated horizontal v-shaped sign placed underneath a staff to indicate a crescendo or decrescendo.

hairpin meaning in Odia, Tagalog, Arabic and Persian

hairpin in Odia

hairpin
କଣ୍ଟା kaṇṭā

hairpin in Tagalog

pin or fastener for the hair
aguhilya

hairpin in Arabic

pin or fastener for the hair
دَبُّوس

hairpin in Persian

pin or fastener for the hair
سرخاره sarxāre, سنجاق سر sanjāq-e sar, گیرهٔ سر gire-ye sar
More languagesFewer languages
hairpin in Thai
ปิ่น bpìn
hairpin in Vietnamese
trâm, thoa

Examples of hairpin in a sentence

  • Maybe a cute scarf or some pearl-studded hairpins if they're going for the new "soft girl" look.
  • Mark Twain claimed that women, if given enough time and hairpins, could build a battleship.
  • The excretory vessels form a hairpin loop just inside the phyllidium (Pl. 5 Fg.1).

All 12 example sentences with hairpin

Forms of hairpin

pluralhairpins
alternative formhair pin
alternative formhair-pin

Plural of hairpin: hairpins

Origin of hairpin

From hair + pin, 1788 (as hair pin). Adjective sense 1906 in hairpin turn etc.

Words formed from hairpin

Phrases with hairpin

Questions about hairpin

What does hairpin mean?
Hairpin means a pin or fastener for the hair.
What is hairpin in Odia?
Hairpin in Odia is କଣ୍ଟା (kaṇṭā). See Hairpin meaning in Odia.
What part of speech is hairpin?
Hairpin is a noun.
How do you pronounce hairpin?
Hairpin is pronounced /ˈhɛə.pɪn/ (UK).
What is the plural of hairpin?
The plural of hairpin is hairpins.

Words near hairpin in the dictionary

  1. hairnet
  2. hairnets
  3. hairnetted
  4. hairpiece
  5. hairpieces
  6. hairpin
  7. hairpin bend
  8. hairpin bends
  9. hairpin curve
  10. hairpin curves
  11. hairpin transfer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hairpin (page history and authors); କଣ୍ଟା (Odia) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-hairpin.ogg.

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