Meanings
plural toupees · alternative toupe · alternative toupée · alternative toupet
- A wig of false hair worn to cover a bald spot, especially as worn by a man.
Near-synonym: hair system
Synonyms: hairpiece, hair system
- obsoleteA small tuft; a curl or artificial lock of hair.
- obsoleteA small wig, or a toppiece of a wig, worn by both sexes.
Her powdered hair is turned backward over a toupee.
1860, George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA wig of false hair worn to cover a bald spot, especially as worn by a man.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*tuppaz“summit, crest, tuft of hair”
- Frankish*topp“summit, crest, tuft of hair”
- Old Frenchtoupet“small tuft of hair, forelock”
- Middle Frenchtoupet“small tuft of hair, forelock”
- Frenchtoupet“small tuft of hair, forelock”
- Englishtoupee
1727, from French toupet (“small tuft of hair, forelock”), from Middle French toupet (“small tuft of hair, forelock”), from Old French toupet (“small tuft of hair, forelock”), diminutive of toupe, top (“tuft of hair”), from Frankish *topp (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”), from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”). Cognate with Old Dutch topp (“top”) (Dutch top), Old Frisian top (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”), Old English top (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”), Old High German zopf (“end, summit, tuft of hair”), Old Norse toppr (“tuft of hair, forelock”). More at top.
More words from French, Middle French, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian тупе
- тупе (tupe)wig
Danish tupé
- tupéwig
Finnish hiuslisäke, tupee
- hiuslisäkewig
- tupeewig
French toupet
- toupetwig
German Toupet
- Toupetwig
Greek περουκίνι
- περουκίνι (peroukíni)wig
Hungarian tupé
- tupéwig
Italian toppè
- toppèwig
Japanese 鬘
- 鬘 (katsura)wig
Korean 가발
- 가발 (gabal)wig
Norwegian Bokmål tupé
- tupéwig
Polish tupet, tupecik
- tupetwig
- tupecikwig
- peruczkawig
Russian пари́к
- пари́к (parík)wig
Spanish peluca de hombre, peluquín
- peluca de hombrewig
- peluquínwig
- bisoñéwig
Swedish tupé
- tupéwig
Tagalog tambulok
- tambulokwig
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with toupee
All rhymes →Cite this entry
toupee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toupee
“toupee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toupee. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toupee,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toupee.
Source: toupee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.