ribbon

English

a gymnast competing in the ribbon event

actor Steve Carell wearing an awareness ribbon

The emoji for ribbon. There's an entry at 🎀

Etymology

From Middle English riban, ryban, ryband, from Old French riban, ruban ( > modern French ruban), of uncertain origin. Likely from a Germanic compound whose second element is cognate with English band. Compare Middle Dutch ringhband (“necklace”, literally “ring-band”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪbən/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪbən

Noun

ribbon (countable and uncountable, plural ribbons)

A long, narrow strip of material used for decoration of clothing or the hair or gift wrapping.
An awareness ribbon.
- 2018 October 1, Olivia B. Waxman, “Wearing a Pink Ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness? Here's How Awareness Ribbons Became a Thing”, in Time‎:
  With Monday marking the beginning of October’s annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month observance, supporters will be donning their pink ribbons as a show of support for ongoing research for a cure.
An inked strip of material against which type is pressed to print letters in a typewriter or printer.
- 2018, Mark J. P. Wolf, The Routledge Companion to Media Technology and Obsolescence
  They were single-shift, frontstroke, typebar typewriters with four-bank QWERTY keyboards, inked by a ribbon.
A narrow strip or shred.
a steel or magnesium ribbon
sails torn to ribbons
1. (cooking) In ice cream and similar confections, an ingredient (often chocolate, butterscotch, caramel, or fudge) added in a long narrow strip.
(shipbuilding) Alternative form of ribband
(nautical) A painted moulding on the side of a ship.
A watchspring.
A bandsaw.
(slang, dated, in the plural) Reins for a horse.
- 1887, James Inglis, Our New Zealand Cousins
  "Here, sir, hold the ribbons." This to me, throwing me the reins. Jack got down from his perch, and after a little search in the bush was rewarded by the capture of the poor dazed pigeon, who was consigned to safe custody in the boot.
(heraldry) A bearing similar to the bend, but only one eighth as wide.
(spinning) A sliver.
(journalism) A subheadline presented above its parent headline.
(computing, graphical user interface) A toolbar that incorporates tabs and menus.

Derived terms

AIDS ribbon
awareness ribbon
beribbon
blue ribbon
magnesium ribbon
microribbon
nanoribbon
red ribbon
ribbon brake
ribbon cable
ribbon cane
ribbon cutting
ribbonfish
ribbongrass
ribbon gum
Ribbonism
ribbonite
ribbonize
ribbonlength
ribbonless
ribbonlike
ribbonmaker
Ribbonman
ribbon map
ribbon microphone
ribbon representation
ribbonry
ribbon seal
ribbon snake
ribbon speaker
ribbon stamp
ribbonweed
ribbon wire
ribbonwood
ribbon worm
ribbony
streamribbon
yellow ribbon

Descendants

→ Japanese: リボン (ribon)
→ Korean: 리본 (ribon)

Translations

long, narrow strip of material

Afrikaans: lint, band (af)
Albanian: ngatërr (sq) f, rrip (sq) m, fjongo (sq) f
Arabic: شَرِيط‎ m (šarīṭ)
Armenian: ժապավեն (hy) (žapaven)
Azerbaijani: lent (az)
Bashkir: таҫма (taθma)
Belarusian: сту́жка f (stúžka), ле́нта f (ljénta)
Bengali: পটি (pṭi), ফিতা (phit‌ôa)
Bulgarian: ле́нта (bg) f (lénta), панделка (bg) f (pandelka)
Burmese: ဖဲကြိုး (my) (hpai:krui:)
Catalan: cinta (ca) f, llaç (ca)
Central Dusun: ribin
Cherokee: ᎠᏇᎷᏍᏗ (aquelusdi)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 絲帶／丝带 (zh) (sīdài), 緞帶／缎带 (zh) (duàndài)
Cornish: snod m
Czech: stuha (cs) f
Danish: bånd (da) n
Dutch: lint (nl) n
Esperanto: rubando
Estonian: lint (et), pael, riba (et)
Finnish: nauha (fi)
French: ruban (fr) m
Galician: fita (gl) f, cinta f
Georgian: ლენტი (lenṭi)
German: Band (de) n
Greek: ταινία (el) f (tainía), κορδέλα (el) f (kordéla)
Ancient: ταινία f (tainía)
Haitian Creole: tep, riban
Hebrew: סֶרֶט‎ (he) m (séret)
Hindi: फीता (hi) (phītā), फ़ीता (fītā), रिबन (hi) (riban)
Hungarian: szalag (hu)
Icelandic: borði (is) m
Indonesian: pita (id)
Irish: ribín m
Italian: nastro (it) m, fettuccia (it) f
Japanese: リボン (ja) (ribon)
Kazakh: таспа (taspa)
Khmer: បដ្ដិកា (patdekaa), បូ (km) (bou)
Korean: 리본 (ko) (ribon)
Kyrgyz: лента (ky) (lenta), тасма (ky) (tasma), сызма (ky) (sızma)
Ladino: kordela f, sherit m, fiongo m
Lao: ໂບ (lo) (bō)
Latin: clipeum f, taenia f, taeniola f
Latvian: lente f
Lithuanian: juosta (lt) f, kaspinas m
Macedonian: ле́нта f (lénta), тра́ка f (tráka)
Malay: pita
Maori: rīpene
Mongolian: тууз (mn) (tuuz)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: bånd (no) n, band (no) n
Nynorsk: band (nn) n
Occitan: riban (oc) m
Old English: þwæle
Persian: روبان‎ (fa) (rubân)
Polish: wstążka (pl) f, wstęga (pl) f, tasiemka (pl) f, taśma (pl) f
Portuguese: fita (pt) f
Romanian: fundă (ro) f
Russian: ле́нта (ru) f (lénta), бант (ru) m (bant), тесьма́ (ru) f (tesʹmá), ба́нтик (ru) m (bántik)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: вр̀пца f, тра̏ка f
Roman: vr̀pca (sh) f, trȁka (sh) f
Slovak: stuha f
Slovene: trak m
Spanish: cinta (es) f, moño (es) m, lazo (es) m, galón (es) m
Swedish: band (sv) n
Tagalog: ribon
Tajik: тасма (tg) (tasma), бант (bant)
Thai: ริบบิ้น (th) (ríp-bîn), โบ (th) (boo)
Turkish: kurdele (tr), şerit (tr)
Turkmen: lenta
Ukrainian: стрі́чка f (stríčka)
Urdu: فیتا‎ (fītā)
Uyghur: لېنتا‎ (lënta), ئۇقا‎ (uqa)
Uzbek: lenta (uz), tasma (uz)
Vietnamese: ruy-băng
Welsh: rhuban (cy), ruban (cy) f

inked ribbon

Albanian: fjongo (sq) f, rrip (sq) m
Bashkir: таҫма (taθma)
Catalan: cinta (ca) f
Czech: páska (cs) f
Dutch: lint (nl) n
Finnish: värinauha
French: ruban (fr) m
German: Farbband n
Greek: ταινία (el) f (tainía)
Hebrew: סֶרֶט דְּיוֹ‎ m (séret dyo)
Indonesian: pita (id), ban (id)
Italian: nastro (it) m, fettuccia (it) f
Japanese: リボン (ja) (ribon)
Korean: 리본 (ko) (ribon)
Malay: pita
Polish: wstążka (pl) f
Portuguese: fita (pt) f
Russian: ле́нта (ru) f (lénta)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: па̀нтљика f
Roman: pàntljika (sh) f
Spanish: cinta (es) f
Turkish: şerit (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ბაბთა (babta), ^{(please verify)} ლენტი (lenṭi)
Romanian: 2. ^{(please verify)} ribon n

Verb

ribbon (third-person singular simple present ribbons, present participle ribboning, simple past and past participle ribboned)

(transitive) To decorate with ribbon.
Synonym: beribbon
(transitive) To stripe or streak.

Anagrams

Robbin, robbin