noun
hairpin
HEH-uh-pihn
noun
1
A thin U-shaped pin used to hold hair in place.
"She secured her bun with two hairpins."
2
A very sharp bend in a road, shaped like a hairpin.
"The mountain road was full of tight hairpins."
How to Use Hairpin
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA U-shaped hair fastener, or a sharp U-shaped bend in a road.
Common pairings
a hairpin bend
a hairpin turn
a hairpin curve
Word Forms
hairpins plural
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Etymology
From "hair" and "pin," describing a pin used to hold hair, first recorded in the late 1700s; the road sense followed in the early 1900s from the similar U-shape.