C19: from French barrette, from Italian berrettabiretta; compare beret
barret in American English
(ˈbærɪt)
noun
a small cap, akin to the biretta, worn in the Middle Ages by soldiers and ecclesiastics
Word origin
[1820–30; ‹ F barrette, MF ‹ dial. It barretta (It berretta) biretta]This word is first recorded in the period 1820–30. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: exogenous, insider, phonetic, takeoff, tetrapod