OED editors are researching the term mani-pedi, meaning ‘a beauty treatment comprising both a manicure and a pedicure’. This word has been commonly used throughout the English-speaking world for the past decade or so, but it seems from the evidence we have at the moment that it originated in the Philippines, where the earliest example we’ve found so far dates from 1972:

1972 Kerima Polotan Adventures in a Forgotten Country (1977) iii. 198 Summer and the Mani-Pedi Scene… Summer is driving the ladies into the beauty shops where they sit‥being mani’d and pedi’d.

We’d like to trace this expression back even further, if possible. Can you help us?

Posted by OED_Editor on 15 November 2012 17.21
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