tampon

See also: Tampon and tampón

English

A tampon with an applicator

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

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

Noun

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.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• emotional tampon
• tampo
• tampography

Translations

a plug of cotton or other absorbent material

• Albanian: tampon m
• Arabic: سِدَادَة‎ f (sidāda), سِدَادَة قُطْنِيَّة‎ f (sidāda quṭniyya), تَامْبُون‎ m (tambūn)
• Armenian: տամպոն (hy) (tampon)
• Azerbaijani: tampon
• Basque: tapoi
• Belarusian: тампо́н m (tampón)
• Bulgarian: тампо́н (bg) m (tampón)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (most common translation) 衛生棉條／卫生棉条 (zh) (wèishēng miántiáo), (alternative translations) 止血栓 (zh) (zhǐxuèshuān), 棉塞 (zh) (miánsāi), 止血塞 (zhǐxuè sāi), 衛生栓／卫生栓 (wèishēng shuān), 棉條／棉条 (zh) (miántiáo)

• Czech: tampón (cs) m
• Danish: tampon c
• Dutch: tampon (nl) m
• Estonian: tampoon
• Faroese: mánasjúkutvørri
• Finnish: tamponi (fi), haavaside (fi) (for wounds)
• French: tampon (fr) m
• Georgian: ტამპონი (ṭamṗoni)
• German: Tampon (de) m
• Greek: ταμπόν (el) n (tampón)

  Ancient: μοτός m (motós), μοτάριον n (motárion)

• Hebrew: טַמְפּוֹן‎ (he) m (tampón)
• Hindi: तंपन (tampan)
• Hungarian: tampon (hu)
• Icelandic: tíðatappi m, túrtappi m
• Indonesian: tampon (id)
• Italian: tampone (it) m, assorbente interno (it) m, stuello (it) m
• Japanese: タンポン (tanpon)
• Kazakh: тығын (tyğyn), тампон (tampon)
• Korean: 탐폰 (tampon)
• Kyrgyz: тампон (tampon)
• Latvian: tampons m
• Lithuanian: tamponas m
• Macedonian: тампо́н m (tampón)
• Malay: tampon
• Maori: puru taiawa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tampong m

• Persian: تامپون‎ (tâmpon)
• Polish: tampon (pl) m
• Portuguese: absorvente interno m, tampão (pt) f
• Romanian: tampon (ro) n
• Russian: тампо́н (ru) m (tampón), заты́чка (ru) f (zatýčka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: та̀мпо̄н m

  Roman: tàmpōn (sh) m

• Slovak: tampón m
• Slovene: tampon m
• Spanish: tampón m
• Swedish: tampong (sv) c
• Tajik: тампон (tampon), латта (latta), дока (doka)
• Thai: แทมพอน (tɛm-pɔ̂n), ผ้าอนามัย (th) (pâa-à-naa-mai), ผ้าอนามัยแบบสอด (pâa-à-naa-mai bɛ̀ɛp sɔ̀ɔt)
• Turkish: tampon (tr)
• Ukrainian: тампо́н m (tampón)
• Uzbek: tampon
• Vietnamese: tăm-bông, nút gạc
• Yiddish: טאַמפּאָן‎ (tampon)

Verb

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.

Translations

Translations

• Bulgarian: тампонирам (bg) (tamponiram)
• Catalan: tamponar (ca)
• Italian: stuellare, tamponare (it)

See also

• sanitary napkin, sanitary towel
• tampion

Anagrams

• pot man, potman, topman

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɑ̃.pɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

tampon m (plural tampons)

1. Piece of wood or other material to close an opening

   …un petit orifice qui, pendant l’emplissage, est bouché par un tampon de bois.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   1. (musical instrument) Same, closing the opening of a flute, a saxophone.

      Tampons spéciaux montés sur plaques aluminium pour saxophone alto à tampons vissés.

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   2. (boat) Same, closing a leak.

      Tampon d’étoupe.

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. (medicine) a plug of cotton or other absorbent material inserted into a body cavity or wound to absorb fluid
   • 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.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. tampon to stop menstruation

   Tampon hygiénique.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

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

      tampon à récurer.

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

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

      vernissage au tampon.

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   3. to apply ink.

      Tampon encreur.

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

5. stamp

   Donner un coup de tampon.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

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

   jouer le rôle de tampon.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   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. Elastic part that prevents damaging when a collision occurs, e.g. buffer in rail transport

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• tamponner
  • tamponnage
  • tamponnade
• zone tampon

Descendants

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

References

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

Further reading

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

Polish

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtam.pɔn/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ampɔn
• Syllabification: tam‧pon

Noun

tampon m inan (diminutive tamponik)

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

Declension

Declension of tampon

	singular	plural
nominative	tampon	tampony
genitive	tamponu	tamponów
dative	tamponowi	tamponom
accusative	tampon	tampony
instrumental	tamponem	tamponami
locative	tamponie	tamponach
vocative	tamponie	tampony

Derived terms

verb

• tamponować

 

Related terms

noun

• tamponada

 

Further reading

• tampon in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• tampon in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French tampon.

Noun

tampon n (plural tampoane)

1. buffer
2. tampon

Declension

Declension of tampon

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) tampon	tamponul	(niște) tampoane	tampoanele
genitive/dative	(unui) tampon	tamponului	(unor) tampoane	tampoanelor
vocative	tamponule		tampoanelor

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

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

Noun

tàmpōn m (Cyrillic spelling та̀мпо̄н)

1. tampon

Declension

Declension of tampon

	singular	plural
nominative	tàmpōn	tamponi
genitive	tampóna	tampona
dative	tamponu	tamponima
accusative	tampon	tampone
vocative	tampone	tamponi
locative	tamponu	tamponima
instrumental	tamponom	tamponima