tampon

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See also: Tampon and tampón

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A tampon with an applicator

Etymology

First attested in 1848. Borrowed from French tampon, from Middle French tampion, a nasalised variant of tapon, a diminutive or augmented form of Old French tape (plug, bung, tap), from Frankish *tappo (stopper, plug), from Proto-Germanic *tappô (plug, tap). Cognate with Old High German zapfo (stopper), Old English tæppa (stopper). More at tap.

Pronunciation

Noun

tampon (plural tampons)

  1. A plug of cotton or other absorbent material inserted into a body cavity or wound to absorb fluid, especially one inserted in the vagina during menstruation.
    • 1988, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), page 145:
      I examined a tampon, from the outside only without removing the wrapper because I did not want to waste one, and considered aloud the consequences of pushing the offensively shaped object into my vagina.
  2. A double-headed drumstick primarily for the bass drum.
  3. An inking pad used in lithographic printing.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

tampon (third-person singular simple present tampons, present participle tamponing or tamponning, simple past and past participle tamponed or tamponned)

  1. (medicine, transitive) To plug (a wound) with a tampon or compress.

Translations

See also

Anagrams

French

French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology

Nasalized variant of tapon, from Frankish *tappō, from Proto-Germanic *tappô (plug, tap), cognate with Dutch tappe, German Zapfen, Old English tæppa, English tap.

Pronunciation

Noun

tampon m (plural tampons)

  1. plug, stopper
    un tampon de boisa wooden stopper
    1. (music) pad (for a flute, saxophone)
      Tampons spéciaux montés sur plaques aluminium pour saxophone alto à tampons vissés.
      (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    2. (nautical) (for closing a leak)
      tampon d’étoupe(please add an English translation of this usage example)
  2. (medicine) swab
    • 1932, Jules Romains, Hommes de bonne volonté:
      Il monta chercher dans sa chambre, au premier étage, un petit tampon d’ouate; puis, comme le sang était sec et collait à la porcelaine, il humecta légèrement le coton avant de frotter.
      He went up to his room on the first floor to look for a small ball of cotton wool; then, since the blood was dry and stuck to the porcelain, he moistened the cotton slightly before rubbing.
  3. tampon (menstrual product)
    tampon hygiéniquetampon
  4. sponge, pad (piece of porous material)
    1. used for washing
      tampon à récurerscourer, scouring pad
    2. to varnish or apply wax to a piece of furniture
      vernissage au tamponFrench polishing
    3. to apply ink
      tampon encreurink pad
  5. stamp
    donner un coup de tamponto stamp
  6. (figuratively) mitigator, mediator, buffer between people having a dispute
    jouer le rôle de tamponto act as a buffer
    1. In this sense, often used in apposition, such as in solution tampon, État tampon, zone tampon, etc.
      Cette zone accueillerait une partie des 3,6 millions de réfugiés syriens et ferait office de zone tampon avec la Syrie.
      (please add an English translation of this usage example)
  7. (chemistry) buffer
    solution tamponbuffer solution
  8. (computing) buffer
  9. (rail transport) buffer

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

References

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

Borrowed from French tampon, from Middle French tampion, a nasalised variant of tapon, a diminutive or augmented form of Old French tape (plug, bung, tap), from Frankish *tappo (stopper, plug), from Proto-Germanic *tappô (plug, tap).

Pronunciation

Noun

tampon m inan (diminutive tamponik)

  1. (medicine) tampon (plug of cotton or other absorbent material)

Declension

Derived terms

verb
noun

Further reading

  • tampon in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French tampon.

Noun

tampon n (plural tampoane)

  1. buffer
  2. tampon

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tǎmpoːn/
  • Hyphenation: tam‧pon

Noun

tàmpōn m (Cyrillic spelling та̀мпо̄н)

  1. tampon

Declension