Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Wig |
WigNoun1. Hairpiece covering the head and made of human or synthetic hair. 2. British slang for a scolding. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "wig" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references) |
Note: Wig \Wig\, noun. [Abbreviation from periwig.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | To dream you wear a wig, indicates that you will soon make an unpropitious change. To lose a wig, you will incur the derision and contempt of enemies. To see others wearing wigs, is a sign of treachery entangling you. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Literature | Wig A variation of the French perruque, Latin pilucca, our periwig cut short. In the middle of the eighteenth century we meet with thirty or forty different names for wigs: as the artichoke, bag, barrister's, bishop's, brush, bush [buzz], buckle, busby, chain, chancellor's, corded wolf's paw, Count Saxe's mode, the crutch, the cut bob, the detached buckle, the Dalmahoy (a bob-wig worn by tradesmen), the drop, the Dutch, the full, the half-natural, the Jansenist bob, the judge's, the ladder, the long bob, the Louis, the periwig, the pigeon's wing, the rhinoceros, the rose, the scratch, the she-dragon, the small back, the spinach seed, the staircase, the Welsh, and the wild boar's back. A bigwig. A magnate. Louis XIV. had long flowing hair, and the courtiers, out of compliment to the young king, wore perukes. When Louis grew older he adopted the wig, which very soon encumbered the head and shoulders of the aristocracy of England and France, Lord Chancellors, judges, and barristers still wear big wigs. Bishops used to wear them in the House of Lords till 1880. `An ye faover the clough, there will be but ae wig left in the parish, and that's the minister's." - Sir Walter Scott: The Antiquary. Make wigs. A perruquier, who fancied himself "married to immortal verse," sent his epic to Voltaire, asking him to examine it and give his "candid opinion" of its merits, The witty patriarch of Ferney simply wrote on the MS. "Make wigs, make wigs, make wigs," and returned it to the barber-poet. (See Sutor, Stick to the cow.) Wig (A). A head. Similarly, the French call a head a binette. As "Quelle binette! " or "Il a une drole de binette! " M. Binet was the court wig-maker in the reign of Louis XIV. "M. Binet, qui foit les perruques du roy, demcure Rue des Petils-Champs. " (Almanack des addresses sous Louis XIV.) "Fleas are not lobsters, dash my wig." S. Butler: Hudibras. Wig War (Anglo-Saxon). The word enters into many names of places, as Wigan in Lancashire, where Arthur is said to have routed the Saxons. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A wig is a head of synthetic hair, worn on the head for various aesthetic and stylistic reasons. Many older women and men choose to wear wigs to disguise the fact that they are going bald. Actors, on the other hand often wear wigs so they better resemble the character they are portraying.In most Commonwealth nations, special wigs are also worn by barristers, judges, and certain parliamentary officials as a symbol of the office.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Wig."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
WIG | English | Whitehall and Industry Group | N/A |
WIG | German | Schweissen mit Wolfram-Elektrode unter Inert-Gas | Metallurgy |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: WigSynonym: wigging (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Clothing | Headdress, headgear; chapeau, crush hat, opera hat; kaffiyeh; sombrero, jam, tam-o-shanter, tarboosh, topi, sola topi, pagri, puggaree; cap, hat, beaver hat, coonskin cap; castor, bonnet, tile, wideawake, wimple; nightcap, mobcap, skullcap; hood, coif; capote, calash; kerchief, snood, babushka; head, coiffure; crown; (circle); chignon, pelt, wig, front, peruke, periwig, caftan, turban, fez, shako, csako, busby; kepi, forage cap, bearskin; baseball cap; fishing hat; helmet; mask, domino. |
Insanity | Become insane; adj; lose one's senses, lose one's reason, lose one's faculties, lose one's wits; go mad, run mad, lose one's marbles, go crazy, go bonkers, flip one's wig, flip one's lid, flip out, flip one's bush. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Wig |
| English words defined with "wig": afro-wig ♦ Bagwig, Bewig, blow up, Bob wig ♦ Caxon ♦ Friz ♦ grizzle ♦ Jasey ♦ Merkin ♦ periwig, periwigged, peruke, peruked ♦ Tete, throw a fit, Tiewig, Toppiece, Toupet ♦ Vallancy ♦ Wigg, wigged, Wiggery, wigless. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "wig": ARTHUR ♦ Campaign Wig, CAXON, CHEST OF TOOLS ♦ Dodington ♦ GOOSEBERRY WIG ♦ HACKLER, DOLL WIGS ♦ JAZEY ♦ KING ARTHUR ♦ LOUIS XIV, LOUSE BAG ♦ MANNEQUIN WIG MAKER, Misers ♦ NAZAKENE FORETOP, NONSENSE ♦ Parolles, Peeping Tom of Coventry, Pen and Feather, PERRIWINKLE, PISS-BURNED, PRUDERY ♦ STRUM ♦ WASHINGTON, WIG DRESSER, WIG MAKER, WIGANNOWNS. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "wig": Caxon. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Wig" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Dutch (wedge). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Gee, this wig weighs a ton (Singin' in the Rain; writing credit: Betty Comden; Adolph Green) In that wig, you could play Lassie (The Mirror Crack'd; writing credit: Agatha Christie; Jonathan Hales) Shake, take that wig off (A Hard Day's Night; writing credit: Alun Owen) Fetch daddy's blue fright wig! I must be handsome when I unleash my rage (Space Ghost Coast to Coast; writing credit: Ben Karlin) I'm letting you off easy: I was going to ask for the whole wig. (Duck Soup; writing credit: Bert Kalmar ; Harry Ruby) | |
Lyrics | You lose your hair, you wear a tiny wig (Man (Opposable Thumb); performing artist: The Residents) | |
Tongue Twisters | Wally Winkle wriggles his white, wrinkled wig. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Sex Wig Scheme (1972) Wig Wag (1911) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Profile of man in wig and tricorn hat] / [by] H.P. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | President James K. Polk, residence in Columbia, Tennessee. Wash bowl, clothes closet, and wig cabinet. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Wig" by Olivia Castells Commentary: "Picture of my." | "70s Revival" by Steve Dorrington Commentary: "Boy wearing a wig making a peace sign." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Lays of Mystery Imagination and Humour | Carroll, Lewis | One showed a vain and noisy prig, That shouted empty words and big At him that nodded in a wig. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Tragedy in a wig has its reason for being, and I am not one of those who, in the name of Aeschylus, deny it the right of existence |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | If you prefer a wig or toupee, be sure the lining does not irritate your scalp. (references) | |
You may be able to buy a wig or hairpiece at a specialty shop just for cancer patients. (references) | ||
Someone may even come to your home to help you. You also can buy a wig or hair piece through a catalog or by phone. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Wig" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 94.92% of the time. "Wig" is used about 315 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 94.92% | 299 | 16,795 |
| Noun (proper) | 3.17% | 10 | 111,207 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.27% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Unclassified Items | 0.32% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 0.32% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 315 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "wig" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Wig | Last name | 130 | 66,483 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "wig": big wig ♦ Bob wig ♦ bobtail wig ♦ flip one's wig ♦ scratch wig ♦ wig tree. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "wig": Wig-holstein, wig-less, wig-maker, wig-out, wig-outs, wig-wag, wig-wearers, wig-zzzzz. | |
Ending with "wig": piggy-wig. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
european natural wig | 33,529 | womens wig | 63 |
wig | 4,615 | revlon wig | 60 |
african american wig | 786 | afro wig | 59 |
clown wig | 695 | wilshire wig | 51 |
human hair wig | 356 | wig and hair piece | 51 |
costume wig | 211 | halloween wig | 48 |
wig for cancer patient | 133 | dolly parton wig | 47 |
raquel welch wig | 125 | wig company | 40 |
hair wig | 113 | wig long | 38 |
discount wig | 112 | black wig | 38 |
mullet wig | 107 | fashion wig | 36 |
big wig | 102 | wig for black woman | 34 |
paula young wig | 96 | star jones wig | 34 |
wig for kid | 94 | wig catalog | 33 |
beauty trend wig | 85 | cancer wig | 32 |
man wig | 84 | party wig | 32 |
wig and hairpieces | 80 | blonde wig | 31 |
doll wig | 76 | wig wag | 29 |
beverly johnson wig | 72 | rachel welch wig | 29 |
cheap wig | 68 | eva gabor wig | 29 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "wig"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | parukë (grizzle, hairpiece, periwig, peruke, switch, transformation). (various references) | |
Arabic | توبيخ (admonition, censure, correction, dressing down, lesson, objurgation, rap, rating, rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproach, reproof, scolding, talking to, telling off, upbraiding), شعر مستعار (postiche, toupee), باروكة (toupee). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | скастрям (pull up, set down, trim), порицавам (anathematize, blame, censure, criminate, decry, lash, rebuke, reprehend, reprimand, reproach, reprobate, reprove, upbraid). (various references) | |
Chinese | 假髮 , 假发. (various references) | |
Czech | přísnì domluvit, paruka (periwig). (various references) | |
Danish | paryk (hairpiece). (various references) | |
Dutch | pruik (hairpiece). (various references) | |
Esperanto | peruko (hairpiece). (various references) | |
Faeroese | parúkkur (hairpiece), hárkollur (hairpiece). (various references) | |
Farsi | موی مصنوعی , کلاه گیس (Postiche), گیس ساختگی , سرزنش کردن (Berate, Blame, Calldown, Censure, Check, Chide, Haze, Rant, Reprehend, Reprimand, Reprove, Scold, Snub, Taunt, Trounce, Twit, Upbraid), دارای گیس مصنوعی کردن . (various references) | |
Finnish | peruukki. (various references) | |
French | perruque. (various references) | |
Frisian | prûk (hairpiece). (various references) | |
German | Perücke (hairpiece, periwig, peruke). (various references) | |
Greek | περούκα (hair piece, periwig, peruke). (various references) | |
Hebrew | קפלט, פאה נכרית (periwig, toupee), פאה (border, corner, edge, side). (various references) | |
Hungarian | paróka (hairpiece, periwig, peruke). (various references) | |
Indonesian | rambut palsu. (various references) | |
Italian | parrucca (peruke). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 鬘 (hairpiece), ウイック回転 (virus, wheelie, Wick rotation, widow, winner, winning ball, winning shot, wit). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | かつら (hairpiece, Japanese Judas tree), ウイッグ . (various references) | |
Korean | 가발. (various references) | |
Manx | mwashag (hairpiece, periwig), far folt (toupee). (various references) | |
Papiamen | peluka (hairpiece). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | igway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | peruca (br.) (periwig, peruke, toupee), peruca (hairpiece), chinó (periwig, toupee), cabeleira postiça (periwig), cabeleira (fell, hair, head of hair, mane). (various references) | |
Romanian | trage un perdaf (give a rap on the knuckles), perucã (periwig, peruke), dojeni (blame, chide, correct, rebuke, remonstrate, reprehend, reprimand, reprove, scold, snub, taunt, trim, twit, upbraid). (various references) | |
Russian | парик (hairpiece, periwig, peruke, tie-wig, toupee). (various references) | |
Scottish | gruag (hair of the head). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | perika (hairpiece, periwig, peruke, taupe, toupee). (various references) | |
Spanish | peluca (Bob, periwig, peruke, toupee). (various references) | |
Swedish | peruk (hairpiece, jasey, periwig, peruke). (various references) | |
Turkish | takma saç (hairpiece, postiche), peruk (periwig, peruke, toupee). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | сановник (grandee), розумаха (wiseacre, wisehead), чуприна (cowlick, forelock), волосся (fell, hackle, hair, locks), мозок (brain, thinker), прочухан (rowing, ruction, scolding, snorter, spanking, wigging), перука (periwig, peruke). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | bộ tóc gi. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | caliandrum, caliendrum, capillamentum. (various references) |
| Italian | 900-Modern | pernucca. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "wig": wigan, wigans, wigeon, wigeons, wigged, wiggeries, wiggery, wiggier, wiggiest, wigging, wiggings, wiggle, wiggled, wiggler, wigglers, wiggles, wigglier, wiggliest, wiggling, wiggly, wiggy, wight, wights, wigless, wiglet, wiglets, wiglike, wigmaker, wigmakers, wigs, wigwag, wigwagged, wigwagging, wigwags, wigwam, wigwams. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "wig": bagwig, bewig, bigwig, buzzwig, earwig, periwig, swig, twig. (additional references) | |
Words containing "wig": bagwigs, bewigged, bewigging, bewigs, bigwigs, buzzwigs, earwigged, earwigging, earwigs, periwigged, periwigs, swigged, swigger, swiggers, swigging, swigs, twigged, twiggen, twiggier, twiggiest, twigging, twiggy, twigless, twiglike, twigs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Wig" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: aig, awig, dwig, ewig, ewige, giw, iw, iwd, oig, Qigc, wagg, waig, waug, wayg, weeg, weg, weig, weige, werg, wesg, wg, Wgic, wi, wia, wib, wic, wid, widg, wif, wige, wiggy, wigh, wigi, wigl, wigy, wij, wilg, wim, wio, wip, wiq, wir, wiu, wiv, wiw, wix, wiy, Wmi, wog, wsi, wug, wugg, Wwi, wyf, wyg. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "wig" (pronounced wi"g) |
| 3 | w i" g | swig, twig, whig. |
| 2 | -i" g | big, Brig, dig, fig, gig, jig, Mig, pig, prig, renege, rig, trig, Vig, zig. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words containing the letters "g-i-w" | |
+1 letter: swig, twig, whig, wigs, wing. | |
+2 letters: awing, bewig, owing, swigs, swing, twigs, weigh, whigs, wigan, wiggy, wight, wings, wingy, wring. | |
+3 letters: aweigh, aweing, awning, bagwig, bewigs, bigwig, bowing, cawing, cowing, dawing, dewing, dowing, earwig, gawsie, godwit, hawing, hewing, jawing, jewing, jigsaw, jowing, lawing, lowing, mawing, mewing, mowing, owning, pawing, rowing, sawing, sewing, sowing, swinge, swings, swingy, tawing, tewing, towing, twiggy, twinge, vowing, wading, waging, waking, waling, waning, waring, waving, waxing, wedgie, weighs, weight, whinge, widget, wifing, wigans, wigeon, wigged, wiggle, wiggly, wights, wiglet, wigwag, wigwam, wiling, winged, winger, wining, wiping, wiring, wising, witing, wiving, wooing, wowing, wright, wrings, wrying, wyling, wyting, yawing, yowing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Names: Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Abbreviations 18. Acronyms 19. Derivations 20. Rhymes | 21. Anagrams 22. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
