zipperhead
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zipperhead¹
Where it comes from
From zipper + head, in reference to the leather helmets used by early Canadian armoured crewmen, which had zipper-like stitching.
noun zipperheads
-
A soldier in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps or in the Armoured Crewman military trade.
Similar: trooper, crewman, tanker, armoured crewman, armoured soldier, tread-head, treadhead
zipperhead²
Where it comes from
Coined by US soldiers during the Vietnam War, apparently from zipper + head. The semantic motivation is unclear. One theory is that the Vietnamese were so called because their heads would split open in zipper-like fashion if they were shot in the right way; another is that zipper-like tracks would be left on them if they were run over by jeeps or tanks.
noun zipperheads
-
A person of East Asian descent.
Similar: almond eyes, chicken lips, dink, gook, slant eye, slopehead, zipperlid
Talk about this word "zipperhead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/zipperhead. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. zipperhead. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/zipperhead "zipperhead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/zipperhead.Cite this
@misc{zipperhead_2026,
title = {zipperhead},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/zipperhead},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
