"plug of cotton to stanch a flow of blood (especially from the vagina)," 1848, from French tampon, originally "plug" (see tampion). Tampax, proprietary name registered in U.S. 1932, is based on tampon.
Entries linking to tampon
tampion n.
early 15c., "plug, bung," from a nasalized variant of Old French tapon "piece of cloth to stop a hole" (14c.), a suffixed form of Frankish *tappo "stopper, plug," related to Old High German zapfo and Old English tæppa "stopper" (see tap (n.1)). Meaning "wooden plug for the muzzle of a gun" (to keep out rain or seawater) is recorded from 1620s.