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bodice

Etymology and origin of the English word bodice

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbɒdɪs/ (UK); /ˈbɑdɪs/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is an altered spelling of bodies, plural of body.[2][3][4][5][6] The garment was spoken of as “a pair of bodies”,[3][7] and Etymonline explains the plural by the two parts that fastened in the middle.[4] For the spelling, compare pence and dice.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The upper part of a woman's dress, a tight-fitting outer vest (1566–7).[7][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The spelling bodice appeared in the late 1600s, but the word was treated as a plural until the late 1800s, while the pronunciation following the spelling became established.[3] Formerly it also meant an inner garment stiffened with whalebone, a kind of corset,[7][4] worn chiefly by women but sometimes by men.[7][4] In modern use it is the fitted upper part of a dress, or a laced outer garment worn over a blouse.[2][5][6] The humorous compound bodice-ripper, for a racy historical romance novel, dates from about 1980.[7][4]

Timeline

  • 1566 – bodies, the upper part of a dress.[7][3][5]
  • 1618 – a stiffened inner garment, a corset.[7]
  • late 1600s – the spelling bodice.[3]
  • 1980 – bodice-ripper (OED, 1981 in Etymonline).[7][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The fitted part of a dress from the waist to the shoulders.
  2. A woman's laced outer garment worn like a vest over a blouse.
  3. (archaic) A corset or stays.

Word family

  • bodice ripper

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Bodice.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bodice. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·