toupee
/tuːˈpeɪ/noun
toupee is spelled T-O-U-P-E-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 73,203rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, toupee means “A wig of false hair worn to cover a bald spot, especially as worn by a man” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of toupee is toupees or toupées.
How many letters and syllables are in toupee?
| Letters | 6: T-O-U-P-E-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 73,203rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is toupee?
Toupee appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 73,203rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce toupee?
- /tuːˈpeɪ/
Toupee has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-toupee.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of toupee
- toupees plural
- toupe
- toupée
- toupet
- toupées plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does toupee mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A wig of false hair worn to cover a bald spot, especially as worn by a man.
Near-synonym: hair system
- 2
obsoleteA small tuft; a curl or artificial lock of hair.
- 3
obsoleteA small wig, or a toppiece of a wig, worn by both sexes.
noun
- 1
Alternative spelling of toupee.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Toupee in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense wig:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does toupee come from?
1727, from French toupet (“small tuft of hair, forelock”), from Middle French toupet (“small tuft of hair, forelock”), from Old French toupet (“small tuft of hair, forelock”), diminutive of toupe, top (“tuft of hair”), from Frankish *topp (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”), from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”). Cognate with Old Dutch topp (“top”) (Dutch top), Old Frisian top (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”), Old English top (“summit, crest, tuft of hair”), Old High German zopf (“end, summit, tuft of hair”), Old Norse toppr (“tuft of hair, forelock”). More at top.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).