Etymologically
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closet

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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

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)