Link Centre Dictionary

tampon

tam·pon

UK/ˈtʰæmpɒn/ US/ˈtʰæmpɑn/ uncommon
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

plug of cotton or other absorbent material; inserted into wound or body cavity to absorb exuded fluids (especially blood)

verb

1.

plug with a tampon

Origin

First attested in 1848. Borrowed from French tampon, from Middle French tampon, a nasalised variant of tapon, a diminutive or augmented form of Old French tape (“plug, bung, tap”), from Frankish *tappō (“stopper, plug”), from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“plug, tap”). Cognate with Old High German zapfo (“stopper”), Old English tæppa (“stopper”). Doublet of tampion. More at tap.

Phrases

  • emotional tampon
  • nasal tampon
  • Tampon Tim

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.