Chiffon
//ʃɪˈfɑn// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A lightweight, balanced plain-woven sheer fabric, or gauze, like gossamer, woven of alternate S- and Z-twist crepe (high-twist) yarns made of silk, polyester, or cotton. countable, uncountable
"Her dresses are made from these marvelous chiffons."
- 2 a sheer fabric of silk or rayon wordnet
- 3 Any purely ornamental accessory on a woman's dress, such as a bunch of ribbon, lace, etc. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"Her head was surmounted by a huge white chiffon hat, bedecked with three long but rather stringy ostrich feathers."
Etymology
Borrowed from French chiffon, from Middle French chiffe (“cloth, old rag”), from Old French chipe (“rag”), from Middle English chip, chippe (“chip, shard, fragment”), from Old English ċipp (“chip, splinter, shaving”); see chip.
Related phrases
More for "chiffon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.