Meaning

noun the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair)

noun a skullcap worn by nuns under a veil or by soldiers under a hood of mail or formerly by British sergeants-at-law

verb cover with a coif

originFrom Middle English coif, coife, coyf, coyfe, coyffe, from Old French coife, coiffe, from Late Latin cofia, from Proto-West Germanic *kuffju, related to Old High German kupphia, kupha, kupfe (“mug, hood, cap”), from Proto-Germanic *kuppijǭ (“cap, hat, bonnet, headpiece”), Proto-Germanic *kuppō (“vat, mug, cup”), from pre-Germanic *kubná-, from Proto-Indo-European *gup- (“round object, knoll”),…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0