hair pipe

noun

A type of long, cylindrical bead from North America used in the creation of personal adornments, principally by Native Americans.

Meanings

nounhair pipe (plural hair pipes)

plural hair pipes · alternative hair-pipe · alternative hairpipe

  1. A type of long, cylindrical bead from North America used in the creation of personal adornments, principally by Native Americans.

    Wampum, Weoka / “ hair pipes, Waebosndata

    1850, Caleb Atwater, “Rudiments of the Grammar of the Sioux Language”, in The Indians of the Northwest: Their Maners, Customs, &c. &c,, Columbus, →OCLC, page 168
    3 more examples

    About 1850 he, in connection with his brother James, invented a machine for drilling wampum hair-pipe, which is manufactured from conch-shells and clam-shells.

    1882, “XXIV: The Bench and Bar of Bergen County”, in W. Woodford Clayton, William Nelson, editors, History of Bergen and Passaic Counties, Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, page 107

    The Kiowas used brass earrings, from each of which was suspended a hair pipe, which in turn supported a brass chain with a German-silver ornament at the end.

    1977, Ronald P. Koch, “5: Native Ornaments”, in Dress Clothing of the Plains Indians, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 41

    Straight dancers wear ribbon shirts with bandoliers made of bone hair pipes and beads, generally from one to four strands wide, […]

    2012, “Powwow Dance”, in Elizabeth DeLaney Hoffman, editor, American Indians and Popular Culture, volume 1, Preager, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 299

Origin

Obscure, possibly from hair + pipe, as a description of one of its uses. Earliest known usage from 1767.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hair pipe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hair%20pipe

MLA

“hair pipe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hair%20pipe. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hair pipe,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hair%20pipe.

Source: hair pipe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.