tampon

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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [ˈtʰæmpɒn]

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈtʰæmpɑn]
• Rhymes: -æmpɑn

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.

• (intravaginal plug used to absorb menstrual blood): vampire's teabag (slang)

• emotional tampon
• nasal tampon
• tampo
• tampography

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.

• sanitary napkin, sanitary towel
• tampion

• pot man, potman, topman

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

• IPA^(key): /tɑ̃.pɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

tampon m (plural tampons)

1. plug, stopper

   un tampon de bois ― a 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 hygiénique ― tampon

4. sponge, pad (piece of porous material)
   1. used for washing

      tampon à récurer ― scourer, scouring pad

   2. to varnish or apply wax to a piece of furniture

      vernissage au tampon ― French polishing

   3. to apply ink

      tampon encreur ― ink pad

5. stamp

   donner un coup de tampon ― to stamp

6. (figuratively) mitigator, mediator, buffer between people having a dispute

   jouer le rôle de tampon ― to 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 tampon ― buffer solution

8. (computing) buffer
9. (rail transport) buffer

• (to block an opening): bouchon, tape, tapon
• (tampon): serviette hygiénique
• (stamp): cachet, timbre

• tamponner
  • tamponnage
  • tamponnade
• zone tampon

• English: tampon
• German: Tampon
• Dutch: tampon
• Italian: tampone
• Japanese: タンポン (tanpon)
• Korean: 탐폰 (tampon)
• Portuguese: tampão
• Russian: тампо́н (tampón)
• Spanish: tampón

• Etymology and history of “tapon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtam.pɔn/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ampɔn
• Syllabification: tam‧pon

tampon m inan (diminutive tamponik)

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

• tampon in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French tampon.

tampon n (plural tampoane)

1. buffer
2. tampon

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

tàmpōn m (Cyrillic spelling та̀мпо̄н)

1. tampon