boudoir
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈbuːdwɑː/ (UK); /buˈdwɑɹ/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from French boudoir,[2][3][4][5][6] literally “a place to sulk”,[3][4][6] from French bouder (“to pout, sulk”)[2][3][4][5] and the suffix -oir.[6] The French verb, like English pout, is probably imitative of puffing.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
A room where a lady may retire to be alone or to receive her close friends (1777 in Barnhart and Etymonline; 1781 in the OED and Merriam-Webster).[3][4][7][5]
Semantic evolution
The joke in the name, a lady's “sulking room”, was lost in English, where the word simply named an elegant private room.[4][7] It was later used for the people gathered in such a room,[7] and as a modifier for things suited to one, such as a boudoir chair.[7][1] It was rendered into English at least once, in 1906, as sulkery.[4]
Timeline
- 1777 – first recorded as a French term in English.[3][4]
- 1781 – a lady's private room.[7][5]
- 1803 – used attributively.[7]
- 1906 – Englished as sulkery.[4]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A woman's private sitting room, dressing room or bedroom.
Related words
- pout
- sulk
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
- ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press