noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A roll or twist of hair worn at the nape of the neck; a bun.

   "The chignon cannot be confounded with other artificialities which ladies put on and off."

2. 2
   a roll of hair worn at the nape of the neck wordnet
3. 3
   A temporary swelling on a neonate's head after a ventouse-assisted delivery.

Synonyms

All synonyms

braidbunbuncock-upcoilcue

Example

More examples

"The chignon cannot be confounded with other artificialities which ladies put on and off."

Etymology

Borrowed from French chignon circa 1780, when the hairstyle was in fashion.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.