A coiffure is a hairstyle, an arrangement of hair on a person’s head. Coiffure usually refers to an elaborate styling of the hair. Coiffure may also function as a transitive verb, related words are coiffures, coiffured, coiffuring. The adjective form is coiffured. Coiffure comes from the mid-seventeenth century French word, coiffer meaning arrange the hair.
A coiffeur is the person who arranges hair, the hairdresser or hairstylist. Strictly speaking, a female hairdresser would be a coiffeuse. Coiffeur came into use in 1847, from the French coiffeur meaning hairdresser, coined from the word coiffer, meaning to dress hair, which was in turn derived from the Old French coife, which was a skullcap worn under a helmet.
Examples
Democratic hopeful Sen. Bernard Sanders, to New York Magazine interviewer Ana Marie Cox, who explained that she had a “gendered reason” for asking if the voting public paid more attention to Hillary Clinton’s much-tended coiffure versus the lawmaker’s less-tended look. (The Washington Post)
As the New York Daily News reported, Watson vowed to keep the colorful coiffure an additional week for every 1,000 retweets his picture received on Twitter, with an additional day added for each 100 tweets. (The Huffington Post)
Joey Essex seeks to insure his carefully coiffured barnet for £1million (The Evening Standard)
With pedigrees that include tending to the tresses of Kate Middleton on her wedding day and coiffuring the likes of Madonna and David Beckham, it’s safe to say they know their stuff. (The Mirror)
Romance is in the hair with coiffeur Bruton (The Irish Independent)
These cuts are a coiffeur’s shaving grace (The Sydney Morning Herald)
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