fig leaf

1. 1.

   a leaf from a fig tree

   Broaderleaf
2. 2.

   a covering consisting of anything intended to conceal something regarded as shameful

   Broadercovering

Questions about fig leaf

What does fig leaf mean?

fig leaf means "a leaf from a fig tree". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

Is fig leaf a common word?

fig leaf is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.