labret
/ˈleɪbɹɪt/
labret noun: a body piercing consisting of an adornment attached to the lip.
Noun
labret (plural labrets)
- A body piercing consisting of an adornment attached to the lip.
- Purchas, speaking of the use of a labret by certain Mexicans, makes Peter Martyr say “that he doth not remember that he ever saw so filthy and ugly a sight,[…]1889, Henry Colley March, “The Meaning of Ornament; or its Archæology and its Psychology”, in Transactions of the Lancashire and Chesire Antiquarian Society, volume 7, page 162
- The labret was an ornament worn in a perforation through the lower lip, In the north, labrets were oval in shape, generally made of wood or stone, times inlaid with small flat pieces of shell or bone. The wearing of a labret signified high rank.1993, Hilary Stewart, Looking at Totem Poles, page 41
- Synonyms:
- Mao, tongue pillar
Synonyms of labret
Forms of labret
| plural | labrets |
|---|
Origin of labret
From Latin labrum (“lip”) + -et; modelled on anklet, bracelet, etc. Sometimes incorrectly assumed to be of French origin. Pronounced in the fasion industry as /lɒˈbreɪ/ (pseudo-Gallicism).
Words formed from labret
Questions about labret
- What does labret mean?
- Labret means a body piercing consisting of an adornment attached to the lip.
- What part of speech is labret?
- Labret is a noun.
- How do you pronounce labret?
- Labret is pronounced /ˈleɪbɹɪt/.
- What is the plural of labret?
- The plural of labret is labrets.
Words near labret in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: labret (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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Cite this entry: “labret.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/labret. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.