safety pin
1
2.7
- noun
- /ˈseɪfti pɪn/
- Neologism
:
alfiler de seguridad
- Wearing a safety pin signals that you stand against discrimination and support those in need.
Examples
-
Rips, shreds, tears, and safety pins.
Fiction book (2000) -
During the protest, many participants wore a safety pin to show their support for refugees.
-
She attached a safety pin to her backpack as a symbol of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
Synonyms
153
1.0
A small metal or plastic object used to attach things to cloth
How Visible
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal compound 'safety pin' (a pin associated with safety) is transparently composed from 'safety' + 'pin', so the physical object is predictable from the words. However, the listed sense—wearing a safety pin as a public symbol of solidarity or protection—is a culturally conventionalized pragmatic meaning that cannot be derived from the constituents alone, so learners without cultural exposure are unlikely to infer it.
Etymology
Safety pin began to be worn as a small sign when people pinned a real safety pin to their clothes to show they were safe or on someone's side. Because it was an easy, visible sign, the safety pin came to mean 'showing support'.