feather boa

English

WOTD – 16 August 2026

A portrait photograph of a woman from the Netherlands wearing a feather boa (sense 1).

Feather boa (Egregia menziesii; sense 2), a species of kelp, along the coast of Oregon, U.S.A.

Etymology

From feather (noun) + boa (noun).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌfɛðə ˈbəʊ.ə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌfɛðəɹ ˈboʊ.ə/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˌfeðə ˈbəʉ.ə/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌfeðə ˈbɐʉ.ə/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˌfɛðəɾ ˈbo.ə/
• (Wales, without the toe–tow merger) IPA^(key): /ˌfɛðə ˈboː.ə/
• Rhymes: -əʊə
• Hyphenation: feath‧er boa

Noun

feather boa (plural feather boas)

2. A boa (“type of long scarf, usually worn by being draped across the shoulders with the ends hanging low, sometimes also with a loop around the neck”) made of feathers, either real or synthetic.
   • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

     Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

4. (by extension) In full feather boa kelp: Egregia menziesii, a lessoniaceous kelp found in intertidal water along the western coastline of North America.

Derived terms

• feather boa kelp

Translations

boa made of feathers

• Finnish: sulkaboa
• French: please add this translation if you can

Egregia menziesii

• Finnish: Egregia menziesii -levä
• French: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• boa (clothing accessory) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Egregia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:Egregia menziesii on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Egregia menziesii on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• “feather boa, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2026.
• “feather boa, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.