Standard Lemma guide

bowtie

adj · noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /bəʊˈtaɪ/
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈboʊˌtaɪ/
  • Canada, General-American, dated: /boʊˈtaɪ/
  • California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having the shape that the displayed part of a bowtie does when the latter is tied.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • The corkscrew pasta holds the cheese sauce better, but all I had in the cupboard was bowtie pasta.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A man's necktie tied in a bow around the throat.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A kind of road intersection. See Bowtie (road).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a man's tie that ties in a bow

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bow tie, bow-tie

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: necktie, tie

Narrower terms: black tie, white tie

History

Etymology

From bow + tie.

Across languages

Translations

84 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: rusetti- — shaped like a bow-tie
  • Finnish: rusettimainen — shaped like a bow-tie
  • Finnish: rusetin muotoinen — shaped like a bow-tie
  • French: en nœud papillon — shaped like a bow-tie
  • Icelandic: slaufu- — shaped like a bow-tie
  • Macedonian: пеперушкови́ден (peperuškovíden) — shaped like a bow-tie
  • Afrikaans: strikdas — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Afrikaans: stropdas — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Arabic: رَبْطَة عُنُق كَفَرَاشَة (rabṭat ʕunuq ka-farāša) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Armenian: թիթեռնիկ-փողկապ (tʻitʻeṙnik-pʻoġkap) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Basque: tximeleta-begizta — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Bulgarian: папионка (papionka) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Catalan: corbatí — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Chinese Cantonese: 煲呔 (bou1 taai1) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Chinese Mandarin: 領結 /领结 (lǐngjié) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Czech: motýlek — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Danish: sløjfe — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Danish: butterfly — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Dutch: vlinderdas — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Dutch: strikje — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Esperanto: bantkravato — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Estonian: kikilips — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Faroese: summarfuglur — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Finnish: rusetti — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Finnish: solmuke — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Finnish: mirri — necktie shaped like a bow
  • French: nœud papillon — necktie shaped like a bow
  • French: nœud pap' — necktie shaped like a bow
  • German: Fliege — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Greek: παπιγιόν (papigión) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Hebrew: עניבת פרפר (anivat parpar) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Hungarian: csokornyakkendő — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Icelandic: slaufa — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Icelandic: þverslaufa — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Italian: cravattino — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Italian: cravatta a farfalla — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Japanese: ボウタイ (bōtai) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Korean: 보타이 (botai) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Korean: 나비넥타이 (nabinektai) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Latvian: tauriņš — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Limburgish: nóndezjuke — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Lithuanian: varlytė — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Lithuanian: peteliškė — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Macedonian: пеперушка (peperuška) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Macedonian: крава́та-пепе́рутка (kraváta-pepérutka) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Marathi: बोटाय (boṭāy) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Norman: noeud papillote — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sløyfe — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tversoversløyfe — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sløyfe — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Persian: پاپیون (pâpeyon) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Polish: muszka — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Portuguese: gravata de laço — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Portuguese: gravata borboleta — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Romanian: papion — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Russian: га́лстук-ба́бочка (gálstuk-bábočka) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Russian: ба́бочка (bábočka) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Serbo-Croatian: ле̏птӣр — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Serbo-Croatian: лептир машна — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Serbo-Croatian: lȅptīr — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Serbo-Croatian: leptir mašna — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Sicilian: taḍḍarita — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Slovak: motýlik — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Slovene: metuljček — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: corbata de humita — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: corbata de lacito — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: corbata de moño — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: corbata de pajarito — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: corbata gato — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: corbata michi — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: corbatín — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: lacito — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: moñita — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: moño — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Spanish: pajarita — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Swedish: fluga — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Tagalog: buklod-kurbata — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Thai: ผ้าผูกคอหูกระต่าย (phapookkhawhŏokratàai) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Turkish: papyon — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Ukrainian: краватка-метелик (kravatka-metelyk) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Ukrainian: мете́лик (metélyk) — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Vietnamese: ca vát nơ bướm — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Welsh: tei bo — necktie shaped like a bow
  • Welsh: teis bo — necktie shaped like a bow