Etymologically
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coat

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 03:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /kəʊt/, US /koʊt/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English cote, borrowed from Old French cote (“coat, robe, tunic”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Romance *cotta,[4] from Frankish *kotta (“coarse cloth”) or another Germanic source;[2][4] compare Old Saxon kot “woollen coat”, Old High German chozza “cloak of coarse wool” and German Kotze.[2][3][5] Its ultimate origin is unknown.[2][4][6] Spanish and Portuguese cota and Italian cotta are also Germanic loans.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A man's outer garment, usually of cloth and with sleeves: about 1300 in the OED, about 1330 in Barnhart.[7][3]

Semantic evolution

A petticoat or skirt worn by women and children is from 1393, the sense kept in petticoat.[7][2] The natural covering of an animal is from the late 14th century, probably about 1390 in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,[3][2][4] and a thin layer of any substance, such as paint, from the 1660s.[2][3] The heraldic coat of arms is from about 1340, and the coat of mail from about 1489.[7] Coats of the modern form, fitted to the body with loose skirts, appeared under Charles II, according to the Century Dictionary.[2] The verb, to provide with a coat, is from before 1376, in Piers Plowman, and to cover with a layer from 1753, in Benjamin Franklin's letters.[3][7] Coat-hanger is from 1872.[2] The coat-card (1560s), a playing card with a figure, was corrupted to court-card in the 1640s.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – a man's outer garment.[7]
  • c. 1340 – a coat of arms.[7]
  • 1393 – a petticoat.[7]
  • c. 1390 – an animal's coat.[3]
  • 1560s – coat-card.[2]
  • 1660s – a layer of a substance.[2]
  • 1753 – to cover with a layer.[7]
  • 1872 – coat-hanger.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An outer garment with sleeves, worn outdoors over other clothes.
  2. A jacket, especially one forming the top of a suit.
  3. The fur, hair or wool of an animal.
  4. A layer covering a surface: a coat of paint.

Verb

  1. To cover with a layer of something.

Word family

  • coated
  • coatless
  • coater
  • basecoat
  • bluecoat
  • coatdress
  • coatee
  • coatrack
  • petticoat
  • cotta
  • coating
  • overcoat
  • turncoat

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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