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Meaning & use

toupee

noun·Everyday

Last updated

UK/ˈtuːpeɪ/
US/tuːˈpeɪ/

Meanings

  1. nouncountableold-fashioned

    A small wig or hairpiece worn to cover a bald area, usually by a man.

    Grammar: Countable: wear a toupee, several toupees.

    Patterns

    • wear a toupee

    The actor wore a toupee in his early films.

    A gust of wind nearly blew off his toupee.

    He secretly bought a toupee online.

  2. nouncountablearchaicrare

    A curl or tuft of hair brushed up at the front of a style, in the 1700s.

    Grammar: Historical sense, now rare.

    The gentleman combed his toupee high.

    Eighteenth-century portraits show a curled toupee.

    The wig had a powdered toupee.

Word forms

pluraltoupees

Common combinations

wear a toupee
He wears a toupee to hide his thinning hair.
fake toupee
The fake toupee looked slightly crooked.
adjust a toupee
He adjusted his toupee in the mirror.
toupee tape
Toupee tape holds the piece in place.
a toupee slipped
His toupee slipped during the speech.

Synonyms and how they differ

wig
Wig is the broad word for any artificial hair covering, whereas a toupee covers only part of the head.
hairpiece
Hairpiece is the neutral and polite word.
rug
Rug is slang and humorous for a wig.
periwig
Periwig is a historical word for a long formal wig.

Word family

toupees noun
the plural
wig noun
artificial hair worn on the head
hairpiece noun
a patch of false hair
perruque noun
old word for a wig

Commonly confused: toupee or toupe?

toupee vs toupe

Toupe is a misspelling; the correct spelling is toupee with a double e at the end.

Practice

The correct spelling of the small wig for a bald spot is:

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