Standard Lemma guide

ponytail

noun · verb · 3 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.

  • US: /ˈpoʊniˌteɪl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P OW1 N IY0 T EY2 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A hairstyle where the hair is pulled back and tied into a single "tail" which hangs down behind the head.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To form (the hair) into a ponytail.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a hair style that draws the hair back so that it hangs down in back of the head like a pony's tail

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hairdo, hairstyle, hair style, coiffure, coif

History

Etymology

From pony + tail.

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: ذَيْل الْحِصَان (ḏayl al-ḥiṣān) — hairstyle
  • Arabic: ديل حصان (dél ḥuṣan) — hairstyle
  • Arabic: عنقوص (ʕangūṣ) — hairstyle
  • Bulgarian: конска опашка (konska opaška) — hairstyle
  • Catalan: cua — hairstyle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 馬尾辮 /马尾辫 (mǎwěibiàn) — hairstyle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 馬尾 /马尾 (mǎwěi) — hairstyle
  • Czech: culík — hairstyle
  • Danish: hestehale — hairstyle
  • Dutch: paardenstaart — hairstyle
  • Esperanto: ponevosto — hairstyle
  • Finnish: poninhäntä — hairstyle
  • French: queue-de-cheval — hairstyle
  • German: Pferdeschwanz — hairstyle
  • German: Rossschwanz — hairstyle
  • Greek: αλογοουρά (alogoourá) — hairstyle
  • Hebrew: קוּקוּ (kúku) — hairstyle
  • Hebrew: זנב סוס (znáv-sús) — hairstyle
  • Hungarian: lófarok — hairstyle
  • Icelandic: tagl — hairstyle
  • Icelandic: stertur — hairstyle
  • Indonesian: kuncir kuda — hairstyle
  • Irish: pónaí — hairstyle
  • Italian: coda di cavallo — hairstyle
  • Japanese: ポニーテール (ponītēru) — hairstyle
  • Korean: 포니테일 (poniteil) — hairstyle
  • Macedonian: ко́њска о́пашка (kónjska ópaška) — hairstyle
  • Macedonian: о́павче (ópavče) — hairstyle
  • Norman: coue d'ponîn — hairstyle
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hestehale — hairstyle
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: hestehale — hairstyle
  • Polish: kucyk — hairstyle
  • Portuguese: rabo de cavalo — hairstyle
  • Romanian: coadă — hairstyle
  • Russian: ко́нский хвост (kónskij xvost) — hairstyle
  • Russian: хво́стик (xvóstik) — hairstyle
  • Spanish: coleta — hairstyle
  • Spanish: coletilla — hairstyle
  • Spanish: cola de caballo — hairstyle
  • Spanish: hopo — hairstyle
  • Spanish: kiki — hairstyle
  • Spanish: quiqui — hairstyle
  • Swedish: hästsvans — hairstyle
  • Tagalog: puyod — hairstyle
  • Thai: หางม้า (hǎang-máa) — hairstyle
  • Turkish: atkuyruğu — hairstyle
  • Welsh: cynffon merlen — hairstyle