closet

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈklɒzɪt/ (UK); /ˈklɑzɪt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English, borrowed from Old French closet (“small enclosure, private room”),^[2][3][4] a diminutive of clos, enclosure (see close),^[2][3][5] from Latin clausum, closed space, the neuter past participle of claudere (“to shut”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small private room for study or prayer: about 1370 in the OED;^[6] about 1385, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, in Barnhart.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Matthew 6:6 it translates Latin cubiculum, bedchamber, and Greek tamieion, inner room, and the private room for devotion is a sense of 1611 alluding to that verse.^[2][6] A case or cabinet for valuables is from 1598–1601 (china closet),^[6][3] and a small side room or cupboard for storage from 1616 (the 1610s).^[3][6][2] Word Origins notes that the idea of privacy led to the sense of keeping something secret;^[7] the adjective, private, done in seclusion, is from 1685,^[3][2] and theoretical rather than practical from 1782.^[2] Secret, not public, is from 1952, first of alcoholism, but by the 1970s chiefly of homosexuality,^[2] and to come out of the closet is first recorded in 1963.^[2][6] The verb, to shut up in a closet, is from 1595.^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1370 – a private room.^[6]
• 1595 – the verb.^[3]
• 1616 – a cupboard.^[3]
• 1685 – private (adjective).^[3]
• 1952 – secret.^[2]
• 1963 – come out of the closet.^[2][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small room or cupboard for storing clothes or household supplies.
2. A small private room, as for study or prayer.
3. A water closet; a toilet.
4. A state of secrecy, especially about one's sexuality.

Adjective

1. Private or secret: a closet drinker.
2. Based on theory rather than practice.

Verb

1. To shut up in a private room, as for a discussion.

Word family

• closetful
• closeted
• closet queen
• closet drama
• linen closet
• water closet

Related words

• close
• clause
• enclose
• cloister
• closure

Usage notes

Word Origins notes that closet is now the usual American word for a cupboard or wardrobe.^[7] In North Yorkshire dialect it meant a close-bed.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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)