Word.ws English Dictionary

periwig

/ˈpɛɹɪwɪɡ/

periwig noun: a wig, especially any kind of stylised wig as formerly worn by men and women.

Noun

periwig (plural periwigs)

  1. (historical) A wig, especially any kind of stylised wig as formerly worn by men and women.
    • O, it
      offends me to the soul to hear a robustious
      periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to
      very rags, to split the ears of the groundling […]      c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • Methinks she makes almost as fair a sign / As some old gentlewoman in a periwig.1607, Cyril Tourneur, The Revenger’s Tragedy

Verb

periwig (third-person singular simple present periwigs, present participle periwigging, simple past and past participle periwigged)

  1. (transitive) To dress with a periwig, or with false hair; to bewig.
    • Discord periwigg'd with snakes1736, Jonathan Swift, The Legion Club

periwig meaning in Tamil

periwig in Tamil

ஒட்டு மயிர்

Forms of periwig

Noun
pluralperiwigs
Verb
third-person singular presentperiwigs
present participleperiwigging
past participleperiwigged
pastperiwigged

Origin of periwig

Alteration of Middle French perruque. Doublet of peruke.

Words formed from periwig

Questions about periwig

What does periwig mean?
Periwig means a wig, especially any kind of stylised wig as formerly worn by men and women.
What is periwig in Tamil?
Periwig in Tamil is ஒட்டு மயிர். See Periwig meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is periwig?
Periwig can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce periwig?
Periwig is pronounced /ˈpɛɹɪwɪɡ/.
What is the plural of periwig?
The plural of periwig is periwigs.

Words near periwig in the dictionary

  1. perivitalline
  2. perivitellin
  3. perivitelline
  4. perivulval
  5. perivulvar
  6. periwig
  7. periwigged
  8. periwigging
  9. periwigs
  10. periwinkle
  11. periwinkled

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: periwig (page history and authors); periwig (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-periwig.wav.

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