Other forms: diapers
A diaper is the absorbent pad a baby wears before learning to use the toilet. Change a diaper, a wet diaper, diaper bag.
It is the American word where British English says nappy, and both come from cloth names — nappy from napkin and diaper from a patterned linen. The pattern is the original sense: diaper named a small repeating diamond design in woven cloth, and the baby sense is American.
1noundiaperAn absorbent pad worn by a baby.
“The baby needs a clean diaper before we leave the house.”
diaper is a baby garment.
Also accepted in games: nappy
Old French diapre named a patterned cloth, from Medieval Latin. The pattern sense came first and the baby sense is American.
Middle English
dyaper
English, today
diaper
Built from
From Middle English dyaper. From Middle English dyaper,diapre,dyapre, from Old French diapre,dyapre, a variant of dyaspre, diaspre (“ornamental silk cloth embellished with decorative patterns”), from Medieval Latin diaspra,diasprum (“a type of rich, valuable silken cloth”), probably from Medieval Greek δίασπρος (“very white; pure white”), from δια- (“across”) + ἄσπρος (“white”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA