lappet

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small hanging fold, flap, or strip on a garment or headdress, often made of lace or muslin

   Lace lappets hung from the old-fashioned cap.

2. 2
   noun

   a hanging or overlapping part of an animal's body, such as a fleshy fold or feathered projection

   The bird's brightly colored lappet hung below its throat.

Formed from lap, in its older sense 'a loose flap of cloth,' + the diminutive suffix -et. The clothing term was extended to similarly hanging or overlapping structures in animals.

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