diaper
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdaɪ(ə)pə/
ipa: /ˈdaɪ(ə)pɚ/
rhymes: -aɪpə(ɹ)
rhymes: -aɪəpə(ɹ)
Forms: form: diapers
form: dyaper
form: diapre
form: dyapre
form: dieper
form: dyoper
form: dyeper
form: dioper
form: dipar
Etymology: From Middle English dyaper, diapre, dyapre, from Old French diapre, dyapre, a variant of dyaspre, diaspre (“ornamental silk cloth embellished with floral or decorative geometrical patterns”), from Medieval Latin diaspra, diasprum (“a type of rich, valuable silken cloth”), probably from Byzantine Greek δίασπρος (díaspros, “very white; pure white”, adjective), from δια- (dia-, “across”) + ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”).
Senses: examples: text: cloth diaper, disposable diaper, nighttime diaper, swim diaper
text: A bag of baby-clothes, containing 1 ſheet, 1 ſhi[r]t, 1 bedgown, 12 diapers, 2 child's bedgowns, 2 child's ſhirts, 2 child's robes, 2 child's nightcaps and a wrapper.
ref: 1810 April 19, “Exeter Lying-in Charity”, in Trewman's Exeter Flying-Post, volume XLIX, number 2324, R. Trewman, M. Trewman, page 4:
text: You push it up the vagina while lying on your back, and retain it there by a bandage around, as in wearing diapers. It may be taken out at night after laying down; but must be pushed up in the morning before rising.
ref: 1817, Thomas Ewell, Letters to Ladies Detailing Important Information, Concerning Themselves and Infants, W. Brown, page 103:
text: We have repeatedly known children have from six to ten discharges of yellow-coloured fæces per day, for many days, without injury, provided they nursed well and were well attended to. […] We are far from wishing to make nurses or mothers indifferent to this state of things, but we do wish, for the sake of the welfare of the important little beings intrusted to their care, that they will not think, because they are too free in the bowels, and give the nurse a great deal of trouble to change the diapers frequently, they must take paregoric to check them.
ref: 1839, J[oseph] Warrington, The Nurse's Guide, Thomas, Cowperthwait and Co., page 82:
text: Perhaps you will find space in your charming magazine for the following description of suspenders I made to keep my baby's diaper in place. I had never seen them before, although other mothers may have something similar for the purpose.
ref: 1888 December 24, Anonymous [A Jersey Mother], “Diaper Suspenders”, in Leroy M. Yale, editor, Babyhood: A Monthly Magazine for Mothers, volume V, number 49, Babyhood Publishing Company, page 18:
text: A midwife should always visit her patient within twelve hours after labour, and she should make a routine practice of enquiring whether or not her urine has been passed. […] She must thoroughly cleanse her patient, change her diaper, tighten or change her binder, and clear away all soiled things from under her.
ref: 1899, Robert Jardine, Practical Text-book of Midwifery for Nurses and Students, The Macmillan Publishers, page 129:
text: Some things we were sure of: there would be automatic heat, enough bedrooms to go around, space in the bathroom for a diaper-change while Daddy shaved, plenty of closets, and of course that the kitchen with a minimum of steps.
ref: 1941 May 24, “The House They built, The Garden They Grew”, in Better Homes & Gardens, volume 19, number 9, Meredith Publishing Company, pages 19–20:
text: Either birds-eye cotton or flannelette diapers are good. The newer gauze variety is very satisfactory. They are more expensive, but you need fewer of them as they are so easily washed and they dry so quickly.
ref: 1948 January 24, Elizabeth Chant Robertson, “Your Questions: Our Answers”, in Byrne Hope Sanders, editor, Chatelaine, volume 21, number 1, Maclean-Hunter, Child Health Clinic, page 53:
text: The company manufactured an unfitted adult diaper, modeled on early versions of disposable baby diapers.
ref: 1988 March 7, Laura Jereski, “Pass the slingshot”, in James Michaels, editor, Forbes, volume 141, number 5, Malcolm Forbes (publisher), page 86:
text: A dirty diaper can be unpleasant to an infant; it may develop into a rash if it isn't attended to promptly, and a rash can make an infant even more demanding (wanting our comfort).
ref: 1991, Jeff Barth, Marge Barth, Child Training and the Home School: A Legacy of Grace, Parable Publishing House, →ISBN, page 48:
text: Disposable diapers are primarily composed of polymers, such as cellulose, polypropylene, polyester, and polyethylene, which are biologically inert and not bio-available.
ref: 2014 August 24, Swatee Dey, C. Tucker Helmes, Jeffrey C. White, Shaoying Zhou, “Safety of Disposable Diaper Materials: Extensive Evaluations Validate Use”, in Russell W. Steele, editor, Clinical Pediatrics, volume 53, number 9, SAGE Publications, →DOI, page 17:
text: What was marketed as a tool for convenience by the Pampers maker Procter & Gamble in the 1960s eroded the incentives to start potty training early, freeing children from the feeling of wetness that comes from cloth and freeing parents from the inconvenience of washing used diapers or sending them out to be professionally cleaned.
ref: 2025 September 6, Saabira Chaudhuri, “How We Became Corrupted by Plastic”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Sep 2025:
synonyms: nappy
napkin
pampers
diapie
glosses: An absorbent garment worn around the crotch that retains the wearer's urine and feces, often worn by a baby or young child who is not yet toilet trained, or by an adult who is incontinent or wets the bed, out of convenience, or under extreme working conditions without access to a toilet; a nappy.
examples: text: Near-synonym: diamond twill
text: Diaper table clothes the peece containing xx.yards xl.s
ref: 1574, The Rates of the Cusſtome Houſe, John Allde (publisher), unnumbered page:
english: Diaper tablecloths, the piece containing 20 yards, [costs] 40 shillings.
translation: Diaper tablecloths, the piece containing 20 yards, [costs] 40 shillings.
bold_translation_offsets: 0
6
text: Where's that knaue Pipkin, bid him ſpred the Fetch the cleane diaper napkins from my cheſt, Set out the guilded ſalt, and bid the fellow.
ref: 1602, Joshua Cooke, A Pleasant Conceited Comedie, Matthew Lawe, unnumbered page:
text: Then the young Gentleman takes upon him to call the Maid, for he has in a manner two homes for the preſent; and bids her bring a Bottle of Sack, Straight up comes the Maid with a Bottle, a clean Glaſs, and a Diaper Napkin, and the Mother drinks to Mrs. Prittle-prattle.
ref: 1688, Henry Rhodes, The Pleasures of Matrimony, A. G., page 36:
text: Item, I bequeath, to the uſe of the ſame church, an howſeling towell of diaper, and an altar cloath of diaper, there to remain.
ref: 1756, Arthur Collins, The Peerage of England, 3 edition, volume III, page 54:
text: Diaper is a ſort of linen cloth woven in flowers, and other figures; by ſome reckoned the fineſt ſpecies of figured linen after damaſk.
ref: 1801, William Butler, Arithmetical Questions, 3 edition, S. Couchman, page 141:
text: The orphreys were woven in a diaper of red and gold silk, and were starred with medallions of many saints and martyrs, among whom was St. Sebastian.
ref: 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, page 156:
text: The damask of that era, with its fine texture and handsome pictorial patterns, was very costly. Little of it, compared to diaper, was owned by colonists during their first century in America.
ref: 1959, Alice Winchester, editor, Antiques, volume 76, page 429:
text: Russia-towelling was ordered for bath towels, and diaper towelling (damask linen) for nightshirts.
ref: 2005, Ian Kelly, Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Dandy, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 166:
text: Joan Chicheley, 1521, left a diaper tablecloth to be divided between the high altar and Our Lady's altar. The latter could have been either an altar of Our Lady of Pity in the Trinity chapel on the north side, or that of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist in the new south aisle.
ref: 2019, M. T. W. Payne, “Bankers and booksellers: evidence of the late fifteenth-century English book trade in the ledgers of the Bardi bank”, in Elizabeth A. New, Christian Steer, editor, Medieval Londoners: Essays to Mark the Eightieth Birthday of Caroline M. Barron, University of London Press, →ISBN, page 258:
glosses: A textile fabric having a repeating pattern, especially of diamonds or flowers, formed by alternating directions of thread.
examples: text: meat diaper, period diaper, engine diaper, rubber diaper
text: The tissue is friable and must be collected in a fresh state. If retained in the vagina or on the menstrual diaper for any length of time, its features, both maco- and microscopical, are lost. The further consideration of this tissue is deferred to a later section.
ref: 1926, Beckwith Whitehouse, “A Contribution to the Pathology and Causation of Dysmenorrhoea.*”, in The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynæcology of the British Empire, volume 33, number 4, page 611:
text: NOW… a really easy way to water your indoor hanging plants.
ATTACH… the Plant Diaper to any hanging basket up to 14".
WATER… the clear plastic Plant Diaper catches and holds the water, holding the humidity around the plant.
ref: 1976 October 24, “Plant Diaper”, in Mary Jane Pool, editor, House & Garden, volume 148, number 10 (advertisement), Ralph F. Timm, page 204:
text: i want a vacuum that is smart enough to try to go back to its charging station before dying. Is more autonomous ... i do not have to tell it what to do with scheduling necessarily, it cleans as it sees necessary. Hopefully, it can empty its own diaper.
ref: 2012 April 5, Rob Townley, “Robotic Vacuum Comparison”, in omaha-maker-group, Google Groups:
text: Andrew 3000 (John Mulaney): Still, it might be nice to see the old gang.
Nick Birch (Nick Kroll): It might also be nice if you changed my cum diaper. And don't be stingy with the Nicky powder.
ref: 2020 December 4, Victor Quinaz, “Nick Gurr”, in Dave Stone, director, Big Mouth, season 4, episode 6, via Netflix:
text: Greta felt naked in her nightgown. She was also wearing what she called a blood diaper, having run out of tampons. Nevertheless, she fox-walked across the room and sat in the armchair next to the desk.
ref: 2023, Jen Beagin, Big Swiss: A Novel, Scribner, →ISBN, page 251:
glosses: Something that absorbs and collects (retains) liquid or waste material, much like a diaper (sense 1).
examples: text: Gandhi was the holiest man in the world and ONLY holy men know how to fight in this world. Gandhi only needs a little diaper and no shoes. He does not need very much food. He doesn't ask for any of the riches of the whole world.
ref: 1940, Patience Abbe, No Place Like Home, Julian Messner, page 44:
text: I suppose the average American or European, if asked about Mahatma Gandhi, would summarize his knowledge as follows: Gandhi is a thin, brown toothless Indian, dressed in a diaper, who lives on goat's milk and vegetables, fasts frequently, and has been twisting the British lion's tail for a quarter of a century inside and outside of jail.
ref: 1947, Louis Fischer, “Mahatma Gandhi and Generalissimo Stalin”, in Modern Review, volume 1, number 1, Greenwood Reprint Corporation, published 1968, page 15:
text: "Not me," he said. "I don't wanna go around singin' and dancin' with lipstick on my face and wearin' a diaper."
"It's not a diaper — it's a loincloth."
"Call it what you want, it's a diaper."
ref: 1975, A. E. Hotchner, Looking for Miracles: A Memoir About Loving, Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 66:
text: Ten minutes later I was standing beside the stage, barefoot and half-naked in a sumo diaper. The audience of six hundred was bundled up against the 40-degree weather. The bigger guys had layers of protective fat—I started shivering immediately.
ref: 2005, Joshua Davis, The Underdog: How I Survived the World's Most Outlandish Competitions, Villard, →ISBN, page 87:
text: No, I'm wearing an armored "diaper" because it has become a requirement for many Marines in theater. When I asked Lt. Col. Kevin Trimble, commander of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., about the new gear fielded to protect Marines' groins from blast injuries, he issued the armor to photographer James Lee and I, too.
ref: 2012 April 11, Dan Lamothe, “Journalist wear-tests "combat diaper" with Marines”, in Military Times, archived from the original on 26 May 2012:
glosses: A piece of clothing that resembles the shape of a diaper (sense 1).
topics: architecture
qualifier: decorative arts
glosses: A repeating geometrical or (often stylised) floral pattern in bas-relief, usually of small diamonds evenly spaced.
examples: text: […] a mode of treatment which is also—and perhaps in a much greater degree—frequent in early painting, where a flat ground of gold or bright colour, broken and enriched with stamped or painted diaper, outlines and relieves the subject.
ref: 1855, Fra[nci]s W[ilson] Oliphant, A Plea for Painted Glass: Being an Inquiry Into Its Nature, Character, Objects, and Its Claims as an Art, John Henry Parker, page 47:
text: John's attack upon geometry began with an interest in his brother's box of bricks and in a diaper wallpaper.
ref: 1935, Olaf Stapledon, Odd John, Gollancz, published 2012, page 9:
text: Diaper stenciling can be a combination of border and spot stenciling. Regularly spaced chalk lines are laid out on a floor in a simple diamond or square diaper pattern. The transverse chalk lines are stenciled with narrow bands of design or painted as solid stripes and become part of an overall pattern.
ref: 1987 [1974], JoAnne Day, The Complete Book of Stencilcraft, Reprint edition, Dover Publications, →ISBN, page 76:
text: The whole western front of that period (now an internal wall) was faced in large bricks, and the pointing done to receive painted diaper decoration, much of which still survives. It is difficult to date this build. Painted diaper work is not common before 1500, and so the wing may have been the work of Abbot Reeve or of Sir William Cordell after he acquired the Hall in 1554.
ref: 2006, Lyn Boothman, Richard Hyde Parker, editor, Savage Fortune: An Aristocratic Family in the Early Seventeenth Century, Boydell Press, →ISBN, page LXX:
topics: art
arts
glosses: The pattern itself, decorating a flat or digital surface; diaperwork.
examples: text: Near-synonym: fur
text: Note, that you may haue diaper on any two, three, or more of theſe, or any other their like, in one Bordure, and that not onely Bordures, but aſso Fields of coat-armours are found diapered. […] And albeit things hauing life and ſenſe, or their parts, may bee borne diapered; yet Plants, Fruits, Leaves, Flowers, and other Vegetables, are (in the opinion of ſome Armoriſts) judged to be more fit for ſuch kinde of bearing. This kinde of bearing of diaper in coat-armour, is ſometimes ſeene in Coates of France, and Belgia, but very rare or neuer in England.
ref: 1610, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldrie, 1 edition, Raphe Mab, pages 21–22:
text: Yes doubtleſſe, and more ſtrictly: only they differ in ſome ſmall particulars; as ſome uſe ſtaines as much as colours, ſome charge their Scotcheons after a ſtrange maner with diaper as the french: ſome uſe round Scotcheons as the Italian, and ſuch like: otherwiſe tis all one, as you may ſee by the Armes of every kingdom.
ref: 1612, Henrie Peacham, Graphice: Or, the Most Auncient and Excellent Art Of Drawing and Limming, diſpoſed into three Bookes, John Browne, page 169:
text: Diapering is ſaid, when the Field is ſhadowed with Flowerſhings, and various Turnings, by Purfels of Gold, or Silver, or other Colours, after the Form of Flowers or Leaves, as the Weaver's Diaper-Napery: The Germans practiſe it moſt in their illuminate Arms, but rarely the Britains, ſuch Diaperings are to be found in 'Armories.
ref: 1722, Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry, Speculative and Practical: With the True Art of Blazon, According to the Most Approved Heralds in Europe, volume 1, J. Mackeuen, page 228:
text: In the figure here exhibited the diaper field on the ſhield and furcoat ſeems to indicate that the croſs is in this inſance a badge, and not an armorial bearing; for heralds are agreed, that theſe diapered fields are the mere fancy of the painter, and not regular paternal bearings.
ref: 1795 November 12, “Obſervations on a Calendar in the Poſſeſſion of Francis Douche, F. S. A.”, in Archaeologia: Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, volume XIL, The Society of Antiquaries of London, published 1796, page 202:
text: Besides the honourable ordinaries and the diminutions already mentioned, there are other heraldie figures, called sub-ordinaries, which, by reason of their ancient use in arms, are of worthy bearing; namely, the gyron, quarter, canton, fret, pile, orle, inescutcheon, tressure, annulet, flanches, billet, lozenge, guttes, fusil, rustre, mascle, papil-lone, and diaper.
ref: 1856, “Heraldry”, in Thomas Stewart Traill, editor, The Encyclopædia Britannica; Or, Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, 8 edition, volume XI, Adam & Charles Black, page 329:
text: Diaper may be executed in any tincture that is in keeping with heraldic rule, but it does not affect in any degree the heraldic tinctures of the composition. When the surface of shield is of large unbroken extent, or when there is but one charge upon it, it is peculiarly desirable to Diaper the field.
ref: 1892, Charles Boutell, edited by S. T. Aveling, Heraldry, Ancient and Modern: Including Boutell's Heraldry, W. W. Gibbings, page 53:
text: It consists of an heraldic diaper within a "tapestry" border below, where the Thorpe arms of a fess between six and fleur-de-lys alternate with another coat on lozenges.
ref: 1949, E[dward] Clive Rouse, Longthorpe Tower, Peterborough, Northamptonshire, H.M. Stationery Office, page 4:
text: This is a large and finely executed shield, the red with a good diaper, but the fess has been repaired by a piece of white glass.
ref: 2001, Alan Bott, The Heraldry in Merton College, Oxford, Merton College, →ISBN, page 92:
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: A repeating geometrical or floral pattern, used to cover the surface of a shield and forming the ground for any charges.
examples: text: Let one attend him with a silver basin, […] / Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
text: 3 Pˢ Sheeting ditto.
1 Pˢ Cambrick.
2 Pˢ Table Diaper.
64 Pˢ Buckrams.
ref: 1732, Richard Woolley, “A Particular Account of the Stock in the Cloth Trade of the ſaid Richard Woolley, […] ”, in A True, Exact, and Particular Inventory of All And Singular the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, Goods, Chattels, Debts, and Personal Estate Whatſoever, which Richard Woolley was Seized or Poſſeſſed of […] [in 1730], or at any Time ſince, &c, S. Buckley, page 23:
text: An abbot lies here in a stone coffin, which about fifty years since was opened by some persons (as was thought, only for his crozier and ring). The body was there entire, and the diaper he was wrapt in perfectly fresh, an incident that seems surprising.
ref: 1759, P. K. Powys, edited by Emily J. Climenson, Passages from the Diaries of Mrs. Philip Lybbe Powys, Longmans, Green, And Co., published 1899, page 47:
text: And we take pleasure in particularizing many other specimens of elegance and usefulness, such as Stockings, Diapers, Blankets, Coverlids, and Carpeting.
ref: 1815 October 3, Ebenezer Center, “Berkshire Agricultural Society”, in The American Magazine, volume I, published 1815, page 231:
text: […] lead-colored knitting cotton, cotton table diapers, printed and plain grass cloths, wicking and cotton laps, fine linen thread, […]
ref: 1840 November 12, Charles Wise, “Free Dry Goods”, in Nathaniel P. Rogers, editor, National Anti-Slavery Standard, volume 1, number 36 (advertisement), American Anti-Slavery Society, published 11 February 1811, page 144:
glosses: A towel, napkin or tablecloth made from the diaper fabric (sense 2).
Synonyms: word: diap
word: diapee
word: diapy
word: diapie
word: didee
word: didie
word: diddy
word: didy
word: dipe
word: hippins
word: napkin
word: nappy
word: pamper
word: Pampers
word: pampers
word: dip
word: gamer pants
word: gaming pants
word: omutsu
word: padding
word: pamp
word: pampie
word: pamps
Hypernyms: word: babyware
word: underpants
Hyponyms: word: adult protection
word: all-in-one diaper
word: all-in-two diaper
word: cloth diaper
word: contour diaper
word: Depend
word: diaper briefs
word: disposable diaper
word: DryNite
word: fitted diaper
word: flat diaper
word: fluff
word: Goodnite
word: Huggie
word: hybrid diaper
word: incontinence briefs
word: MCN
word: nighttime diaper
word: one-size diaper
word: paper diaper
word: pocket diaper
word: real nappy
word: soaker
word: swim diaper
word: terry nappy
word: training pants
word: WAHM
Meronyms: word: absorbent core
word: ADL
word: backsheet
word: cuff
word: diaper flat
word: ear
word: fastener
word: gusset
word: landing strip
word: laundry tab
word: leakguard
word: leghole
word: popper
word: prefold
word: rise
word: snap fastener
word: tab
word: tape
word: terry
word: topsheet
word: umbilical notch
word: Velcro
word: waistband
word: wetness indicator
word: wing
Derived terms: all-in-one diaper
all-in-two diaper
bediaper
birth-to-potty diaper
blue diaper syndrome
chin diaper
cloth diaper
contour diaper
daddy diaper party
diaper-baby
diaper baby
diaper bag
diaper bank
diaper briefs
diaper bucket
diaper bush
diaperbutt
diaper cake
diaper changer
diaper check
diaper corset
diaper cover
diaper cream
diaper deck
diaper disposal
Diaper Don
diaper doubler
diaper fastener
diaper flat
diaperful
diaperfur
diaperhead
diaperhood
diaper insert
diaperish
diaperism
diaperless
diaper library
diaperlike
diaper liner
diaper lover
diaper organizer
diaper pail
diaper pants
diaper party
diaper pin
diaper pod
diaper position
diaper rash
diaper service
diaper shirt
diaperslut
diaper sniffer
diaper sniper
diaper stacker
diaper stuffing
diaper table
diaper warmer
diaperwork
diaper wrap
diapie
disposable diaper
face diaper
fitted diaper
flat diaper
hybrid diaper
Israeli Diaper Forces
meat diaper
mouth diaper
night diaper
nighttime diaper
oil diaper
one-size diaper
OS diaper
overnight diaper
paper diaper
pocket diaper
pool diaper
real diaper
red-diaper
red diaper baby
red-diaper baby
rediaper
Russian diaper
shaped diaper
sleep diaper
snap-in-one diaper
spreader diaper
stuffable diaper
swim diaper
swimming diaper
terry diaper
undiaper
washable diaper
water diaper