Footbinding
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The old Chinese custom of binding women's feet with cloth to prevent them from growing with age. countable, historical, uncountable
"More recent studies have shown that foot-binding was likely practiced not purely for the sake of marriage, but also to keep girls at home and engaged in handicrafts, such as spinning cotton, in order to contribute to their family’s income."
- 2 The material used to bind feet for this reason. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"More recent studies have shown that foot-binding was likely practiced not purely for the sake of marriage, but also to keep girls at home and engaged in handicrafts, such as spinning cotton, in order to contribute to their family’s income."
Etymology
From foot + binding.
More for "footbinding"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.