pigtail
Meaning
A length of hair that is tied at the back or on each side of the head so that it hangs down.
A thin, twisted piece of tobacco.
Structure
Usage
She wore her hair in two long pigtails.
The little girl had ribbons tied at the ends of her pigtails.
He absentmindedly chewed on the end of his pigtail of tobacco.
Etymology
The word 'pigtail' is a compound noun formed from two native English words. It first appeared in the 18th century, not originally describing a hairstyle but rather a twisted roll of tobacco, thought to resemble the curly tail of a pig. By the late 18th century, the term was applied to a plaited or braided length of hair, likely due to the visual similarity of a single, tight braid to the shape of a pig's tail. This semantic shift demonstrates a common metaphorical process where a familiar object from the natural world provides a vivid, descriptive name for a human adornment.
Analysis
pig (Old English, noun, the animal) + tail (Old English, noun, the rear appendage of an animal)