pigtail
/ˈpɪɡ.teɪl/
pigtail noun: the tail of a pig.
Noun
pigtail (plural pigtails)
- The tail of a pig.
- Tobacco twisted into a string or roll.
- One person […] continued constantly to ply him with the very best pig-tail tobacco, which he had most carefully cut in very small pieces purposely for him.1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 265
- A braided plait of hair; queue.
- Let padded breasts, high coat collars, stiff stocks, broad-shouldered straps, tight belts, trowser-straps and boots be consigned to the tomb of pigtails and powder.1861 May 1, “Volunteer Uniforms”, in The New York Times, volume X, number 3000, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2025, page 4, column 5
- Such a filthy spectacle as we presented I have never seen before or since, and it will perhaps give some idea of the almost superhuman dignity of Billali's appearance when I say that, coughing, half-drowned, and covered with mud and green slime as he was, with his beautiful beard coming to a...1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Speculations”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 123
- Either of a pair of braids or tails worn on the sides of the head.
- [I]t was something that every schoolboy of my generation almost `had' to do, as obligatory a proof of impending manliness as scrumping apples or pulling girls' pigtails.2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 12
- A hairstyle with a pair of pigtails.
- A person who wears pigtails.
- […] Chinese, whom he called “pigtails”; or Indians, whom he dismissed as “baboos.”[2021 October 26, Peter Baker, “The Case Against Winston Churchill”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
- A short length of twisted electrical wire.
- Synonyms:
- tail
- The flamingo flower (anthurium)
- Twisted stent terminal; stent-end, usually but not necessarily a different fastened part.
Verb
pigtail (third-person singular simple present pigtails, present participle pigtailing, simple past and past participle pigtailed)
pigtail meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Odia and Tagalog
pigtail in Tamil
- சடை
pigtail in Malayalam
- പന്നിവാൽ, പിന്നൽതലമുടി
pigtail in Odia
- pigtail
- ଚୁଟି cuṭi
pigtail in Tagalog
- braided plait of hair
- trintas, tirintas
Examples of pigtail in a sentence
- His hair is combed tightly to a pigtail and he grins at me unshavenly.
- “More like a glamoursome lady of fashion to a kid in pigtails,” Belle said.
- Put her in pigtails and stick her finger in a light socket, and she’d be Pippi Longstocking.
Synonyms of pigtail
Forms of pigtail
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pigtails |
| alternative form | pig-tail |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | pigtails |
| present participle | pigtailing |
| past participle | pigtailed |
| past | pigtailed |
Origin of pigtail
From pig + tail.
Words formed from pigtail
Phrases with pigtail
Questions about pigtail
- What does pigtail mean?
- Pigtail means the tail of a pig.
- What is pigtail in Tamil?
- Pigtail in Tamil is சடை. See Pigtail meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is pigtail?
- Pigtail can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce pigtail?
- Pigtail is pronounced /ˈpɪɡ.teɪl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of pigtail?
- The plural of pigtail is pigtails.
Words near pigtail in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pigtail (page history and authors); pigtail (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pigtail (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଚୁଟି (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pigtail.wav.
Cite this entry: “pigtail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pigtail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.