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Chiffonier

Furnishings
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A tall, narrow chest of drawers for clothing or household linens. It is usually slimmer than a standard dresser.

Detailed Definition
A chiffonier is a narrow, upright chest with several drawers, originally associated with storing light garments, linens, and small domestic articles. Its slender shape makes it useful in poetic interiors where space feels cramped, formal, or old-fashioned. A poet may place a chiffonier beside a bed or window to suggest careful housekeeping, poverty concealed by order, or the fragile persistence of family ritual.
Example
Example in poetry:
The narrow chiffonier leaned beneath the window, its drawers full of folded moonlight; A chiffonier can establish a cramped bedroom setting because it is a tall, slender chest of drawers; “Each drawer of the chiffonier held a season of my mother's handkerchiefs”; The poet uses the chiffonier's stacked drawers as an image for memories arranged but never fully contained
Additional Notes
Its narrow shape makes it useful for imagery of constrained rooms, modest households, or carefully folded domestic life. Compare dresser and highboy.
Also Known As
Chiffonnier Lingerie Chest Tall Chest
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