peruke

wig

Also known as: periwig

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Also called:: periwig

Related Topics:: wig

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peruke, man’s wig, especially the type popular from the 17th to the early 19th century. It was made of long hair, often with curls on the sides, and was sometimes drawn back on the nape of the neck.

Use of the word peruke probably became widespread in the 16th century, when the wearing of wigs became popular. Toward the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th, the peruke was no longer worn as an adornment or to correct nature’s defects but rather as a distinctive feature of costume, especially after Louis XIII of France set the fashion in 1624. See also wig.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.