Word origin: bigwig

Can you guess the meaning of bigwig in these sentences?

- Many bigwigs in sports attended the charity event.

- The job candidate was interviewed by several bigwigs on the hospital's staff.

A bigwig (one word) is not a large wig or hairpiece. A bigwig is an informal reference to an important person, a VIP, but its name literally originates from the big wigs (two words) that people wore in the past. 

Dating back to the 18th century, bigwig is a reference to the powdered wigs that men wore back then. Rich and important men had larger, more expensive wigs, thus the term for these VIPs was coined (created) .

Some other names for bigwig are heavyweight, notable, big name, dignitary, big shot (informal), big cheese (slang, old-fashioned), and heavy hitter. Try adding bigwig or some of its synonyms to your vocabulary to increase your fluency.