Meaning

4 senses
  1. A hairdo.

    причёскаpričóska

  2. (historical)A hood; a close-fitting cap covering much of the head, widespread until the 18th century; after that worn only by small children and country women.

    Bundhaube

    ша́почкаšápočka, чепе́цčepéc

  3. (historical)A similar item of mail armour covering the head.

  4. An official headdress, such as that worn by certain judges in England.

    c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers The judges, […] although they are not of the first magnitude, nor need be of the degree of the coif, yet are they considerable.

    Kettenhaube

More definitions
  • a skullcap worn by nuns under a veil or by soldiers under a hood of mail or formerly by British sergeants-at-law
  • the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair)

Translations

5 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
hairdo:
hood:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
hood:
chain mail headgear:

Origin

From Middle English coif, coife, coyf, coyfe, coyffe, from Old French coife, coiffe, from

From Middle English coif, coife, coyf, coyfe, coyffe, from Old French coife, coiffe, from Late Latin cofia, from Proto-West Germanic *kuffju, related to Old High German kupphia, kupha, kupfe (“mug, hood, cap”), from Proto-Germanic *kuppijǭ (“cap, hat, bonnet, headpiece”), Proto-Germanic *kuppō (“vat, mug, cup”), from pre-Germanic *kubná-, from Proto-Indo-European *gup- (“round object, knoll”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve, arch, vault”). Cognate with Middle High German kupfe (“cap, headgear, helmet”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: coifs

Synonyms

4 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

1 related words
Deriveduncoif

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
coif — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto