Word.ws English Dictionary

Phrygian cap

Syllables: Phryg·i·an capUK/ˌfrɪd͡ʒɪən ˈkæp//ˌfrɪd͡ʒiən ˈkæp/

Phrygian cap noun: a soft, close-fitting conical cap with the top bent forward, represented in Greek and Roman art as worn by ancient Phrygians, and later associated with the Roman liberty cap.

Noun

Phrygian cap (plural Phrygian caps)

  1. (Ancient-Rome, Ancient Greece) A soft, close-fitting conical cap with the top bent forward, represented in Greek and Roman art as worn by ancient Phrygians, and later associated with the Roman liberty cap.
    • A Phrygian Priapus of Elegant VVorkmanſhip: The Phrygian Cap pointed and hanging dovvn behind, as our Caps in Diſhabille are novv vvorn.1699, Martin Lister, “Of Paris in General”, in A Journey to Paris in the Year 1698, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 46
    • [Cornelian. Brit[ish] Muſ[eum].] The tvvo Dioſcuri, vvith Phrygian caps, on horſeback, approaching a female in a long robe, in the middle, vvho ſeems to hold their horſes by the head.1791, R[udolf] E[rich] Raspe, “Castor and Pollux, or the Twins”, in A Descriptive Catalogue of a General Collection of Ancient and Modern Engraved Gems, Cameos as well as Intaglios, Taken from the...
  2. (broadly) A congenital abnormality of the gall bladder with no pathological significance, caused by a folding at the distal part of the fundus.
    • The phrygian cap or folded-fundus gallbladder is a relatively frequent variation in the shape of the gallbladder, which appears as a persistent notch on radiographic contrast study. […] The phrygian cap does not appear to be the result or the cause of disease, and is considered to be of no clinical...2003, Ernest E. Lack, “Normal Anatomy of the Gallbladder and Cystic Duct along with Developmental and Other Abnormalities”, in Pathology of the Pancreas, Gallbladder, Extrahepatic Biliary Tract, and...

Phrygian cap meaning in Arabic, Indonesian and Persian

Phrygian cap in Arabic

soft, close-fitting conical cap with the top bent forward
قُبَّعَة فْرِيجِيَة
congenital abnormality of the gall bladder caused by a folding at the distal part of the fundus
قلنسوة فريجية

Phrygian cap in Indonesian

soft, close-fitting conical cap with the top bent forward
topi Frigia, topi kebebasan

Phrygian cap in Persian

soft, close-fitting conical cap with the top bent forward
کلاه آزادی kolâh âzâdi, کلاه فریژی kolâh fariži

Examples of Phrygian cap in a sentence

  • A short while later, the fire in the courtyard was lit again when a hen laid a fantastic egg that looked like a Ping-Pong ball with an appendage like that on a Phrygian cap.2003, Gabriel García Márquez, chapter 2, in Edith Grossman, transl., Living to Tell the Tale […] (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred...
  • "They chose the Phrygian cap, which signified Middle East status, rather than the pileus, which signified liberty—and so the Phrygian cap came to be interpreted as a symbol of liberty."2024 July 13, Tom Metcalfe, “Why this Ancient Hat is the 2024 Olympic Mascot”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National...

Forms of Phrygian cap

pluralPhrygian caps

Origin of Phrygian cap

From Phrygian (“of or relating to Phrygia, its people or their culture”) + cap. Sense 2 (“congenital abnormality of the gall bladder”) is a calque of German phrygische Mütze, coined by J. Bartel in 1916 and popularized by Edward A. Boyden.

Words that rhyme with Phrygian cap

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about Phrygian cap

What does Phrygian cap mean?
Phrygian cap means a soft, close-fitting conical cap with the top bent forward, represented in Greek and Roman art as worn by ancient Phrygians, and later associated with the Roman liberty cap.
What is Phrygian cap in Arabic?
Phrygian cap in Arabic is قُبَّعَة فْرِيجِيَة, قلنسوة فريجية. See Phrygian cap meaning in Arabic.
How do you use Phrygian cap in a sentence?
A short while later, the fire in the courtyard was lit again when a hen laid a fantastic egg that looked like a Ping-Pong ball with an appendage like that on a Phrygian cap.
What part of speech is Phrygian cap?
Phrygian cap is a noun.
How do you pronounce Phrygian cap?
Phrygian cap is pronounced /ˌfrɪd͡ʒɪən ˈkæp/ (UK).
What is the plural of Phrygian cap?
The plural of Phrygian cap is Phrygian caps.

Words near Phrygian cap in the dictionary

  1. phryganeids
  2. Phrygia
  3. phrygian
  4. Phrygian cadence
  5. Phrygian cadences
  6. Phrygian cap
  7. Phrygian caps
  8. Phrygian mode
  9. Phrygian modes
  10. Phrygian stone
  11. Phrygianize

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Phrygian cap (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: En-us-Phrygian cap.oga.

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