soldier's peaked cap, 1861, from French képi (19c.), from German Swiss käppi, diminutive of German Kappe "a cap," from Late Latin cappa "hood, cap" (see cap (n.)). The usual style of uniform cap in the American Civil War.
late 13c., "close-fitting cap," from Old French coife "skull-cap, cap worn under a helmet, headgear" (12c., Modern French coiffe), from Late Latin coifa "a cap, hood" (source of Italian cuffia, Spanish cofia, escofia), of West Germanic origin (compare Old High German kupphia, Middle High German kupfe "cap"). As "light cap of lace worn by women," mid-15c.
"long, flat-bottomed sled," 1829, from Canadian French tabagane, from an Algonquian language, such as Maleseet /thapaken/. The verb is recorded from 1846. As American English colloquial for a type of long woolen cap, it is recorded from 1929 (earlier toboggan cap, 1928), presumably because one wore such a cap while tobogganing.
early 15c., "kind of cap or bonnet worn by men and women," from Old French bonet, short for chapel de bonet, a cap made from bonet "kind of cloth used as a headdress" (12c., Modern French bonnet), from Medieval Latin bonitum, bonetum "material for hats," which is perhaps a shortening of Late Latin abonnis "a kind of cap" (7c.), which is perhaps from a Germanic source. (If that is correct, a chapel de bonet would be etymologically a "cap made of cap").
As a form of head-covering worn by women out-of-doors, bonnet is attested from late 15c. As a type of mechanical covering device, by 1862.
small, round skull-cap worn by dignitaries in the Catholic Church, 1853, from Italian zucchetta "a cap," originally diminutive of zucca "gourd, head," perhaps from Late Latin cucutia, of unknown origin.
