clothing

Etymology

It is a verbal noun formed from English clothe + -ing,^[2][3][4][5] recorded in Middle English as clōthing, also clahting and claȝing.^[6] The verb is from Old English clāþian, from clāþ, the source of cloth.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of dressing or providing with clothes: about 1175, in the Ormulum.^[2] The MED reads the same line, inn etinng & inn drinnkinng ec, i claþinng & i trowwþe, under the sense "clothes",^[6] while Etymonline dates the word to about 1200,^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1150–1200.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word moved from the action of clothing someone to the things worn, a sense recorded from about 1275, in Laȝamon's Brut.^[2][4] Chaucer has it 32 times, in the sense of clothes or a covering of cloth.^[8] Middle English used it in the proverb that clothing makes the man and in a phrase for the garb of a layman.^[6] Particular uses came and went: bedclothes (before 1400 to 1796), a single garment (before 1425), a livery or Livery Company (1418 to 1612) and cloth-making (1548 to 1661).^[2] Transferred and figurative uses date from before 1340, in Rolle's Psalter,^[2] and the Shorter Oxford records the phrase wolf in sheep's clothing under the sense of clothes.^[3] A dressing in a religious habit is recorded from 1628.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as dress, vesture, garments.^[9] From the late 18th century it was also used for coverings of other things: a cloth casing (1776), and on ships the sails and the bowsprit's rigging (1798).^[2] The adjective is recorded from 1483,^[2] although Etymonline gives the 1590s.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – the action of covering or providing with clothes.^[2]
• c. 1275 – clothes collectively, apparel, dress.^[2]
• before 1340 – transferred and figurative uses.^[2]
• before 1400 – bedclothes (obsolete by 1796).^[2][3]
• 1418 – livery, uniform; a Livery Company (obsolete by 1612).^[2][3]
• 1483 – adjective, that clothes or envelops.^[2]
• 1548 – cloth-making (obsolete by 1661).^[2]
• 1628 – investiture with a religious habit.^[2]
• 1776 – a covering or casing of cloth.^[2]
• 1798 – on ships, sails and rigging.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Garments in general; clothes: She packed warm clothing for the trek.^[10][5][11]
2. A covering of any kind.^[10][11][12]
3. The blankets, hoods or bandages used to cover and protect a domestic animal, such as a horse.^[5]
4. The outward character in which something intangible appears.^[5]
5. The action of dressing or providing with clothes.^[2][3]
6. Investiture with a religious habit.^[2]
7. (mechanics) A covering of lagging or cladding.^[3][2][5]
8. (nautical) Sails and rigging.^[3][2][5]
9. (obsolete, before 1400–1796) Bedclothes.^[2][3]
10. (obsolete, 1418–1612) Livery.^[2][3][5]

Adjective

1. That clothes or envelops.^[2]

Word family

• bedclothing
• underclothing

Related words

• clothe
• cloth
• clothes
• clad

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c 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)
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster