Cooking made light and porous as by the addition of stiffly beaten egg whites: lemon chiffon pie

chiffon

noun

A plain-woven fabric of sheer silk, cotton, or rayon.

Ornamental accessories, such as ribbons or laces, for women's clothing.

adjective

Of, relating to, or resembling the fabric chiffon.

Made light and fluffy by the addition of beaten egg whites or gelatin: a lemon chiffon pie.

Origin of chiffon

French, rag, scrap, ornamental piece of ribbon or lace, from chiffe, rag, alteration (influenced by Old French chifre, zero, thing of little value) of Old French chipe, from Middle English chip, chip, wood shaving; see chip1.

chiffon

Noun

(plural chiffons)

A sheer silk or rayon fabric

Her dresses are made from these marvelous chiffons.

Origin

Borrowing from Frenchchiffon, from Middle French chiffe "cloth, old rag" from Old French chipe "rag", from Middle English chip, chippe "chip, shard, fragment" from Old English ċipp "chip, splinter, beam" from Proto-Germanic*kippaz, *kipaz (“log, beam”). Akin to Old Saxon kip "beam, post", Old High German kipfa "axle-rod, stave". More at chip.