apron

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English napron, also naperon,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French naperon (“small tablecloth”), modern napperon,^[5][6][4][7] a diminutive of nape or nappe (“cloth, tablecloth”),^[5][6][3][8] from Latin mappa (“napkin”),^[5][6][9] the source of map.^[10][9] Mayhew and Skeat call the Latin word Punic.^[11] The change of Latin m to French n is also seen in natte (“mat”), from matta.^[5][6] Between about 1450 and 1485 the phrase “a napron” was misdivided as “an apron”, as in adder, auger and umpire;^{[3][6][7][12]} napron was still in use in the late 16th century.^[6] Nape is also the source of napery and napkin.^[10][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A garment worn over the front of the body to protect the clothes: 1307, as naperon.^[5][3] The Middle English Dictionary has naprouns in Durham accounts of 1326, already as an apron, and also for a bishop's apron.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories explains that in quick speech it is hard to hear where the boundary falls when an precedes a vowel, so that within a hundred years a napron was heard as an apron.^[12] The ceremonial apron of bishops, deans and Freemasons is recorded from 1654.^[5] From the 17th century the word was extended to things that resemble an apron or work like one,^[6] such as a carriage rug for the legs (1790),^[5] a part of a planing machine (1633), a conveyor of linked plates (1835), a protective covering on a riverbank (before 1884), a spread of sediment at the foot of a glacier (1889) and the part of a stage in front of the curtain (1903).^[5] The apron stood for "a wife's business" from the 1610s,^[6] and in old law apron-string tenure was the holding of property by right of one's wife;^[6][13] the phrase tied to one's mother's apron strings grew from this.^[6][13] The verb, to cover with an apron, is recorded from 1822 according to Merriam-Webster, but only in 1865, in Dickens, according to the OED.^[8][5] In dialect the word could mean the diaphragm or midriff of an animal.^[14]

Timeline

• 1307 – a protective garment, as naperon.^[5][3]
• 1450–85 – a napron becomes an apron.^[3]
• 1610s – symbol of a wife's business.^[6]
• 1633 – part of a planing machine.^[5]
• 1654 – a ceremonial apron of bishops or Freemasons.^[5]
• 1790 – a protective covering for the legs in a carriage.^[5]
• 1822 – verb, to put an apron on.^[8]
• 1889 – geology, a spread of sediment.^[5]
• 1903 – the part of a stage in front of the curtain.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A garment tied around the waist and worn over the front of the body to protect the clothes: He wiped his floury hands on his apron.^[8][15][5]
2. A similar garment worn as part of an official costume, as by a bishop or a Freemason.^[8][5]
3. The part of a stage that extends in front of the curtain; a forestage.^[15][5]
4. A paved area around an airport hangar or terminal, where aircraft stand.^[15]
5. A covering or structure that protects against erosion, as below a sluice or along a riverbank.^[5][8]
6. A conveyor belt made of linked slats or plates.^[15][5]
7. (geology) A broad deposit of sediment, as at the foot of a glacier.^[5]

Verb

1. To put an apron on, or to cover as if with an apron.^[8][5]

Word family

• aproned
• apronlike
• unaproned
• apron string

Related words

• napkin
• napery
• map
• adder
• auger
• umpire

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins