guise

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gise, also guise and gyse,^[2][3][1] borrowed from Old French guise (“manner, fashion, way”),^{[4][5][6][3][7]} which is from Frankish *wīsa (“manner, way”),^[5][1][7] from Proto-Germanic *wīsǭ,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”).^[5][8][1] The Germanic word is also the source of Old High German wīsa (“manner”) and of wise in the sense "manner", of which guise is a doublet.^{[9][4][3][10]} Old French regularly turned the initial w of Germanic words into gu;^[6][11] the same word gave guisa and guisa.^[4][9] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the early 12th century, meaning way, manner, kind and style, and already in the phrase "in the guise of", dressed as.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Style or fashion of dress; attire: about 1275, in Laȝamon's Brut.^[4] Barnhart dates the Middle English gise, fashion, style, garb, to probably before 1300.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word mainly meant "manner, way, fashion" (1340) and "custom, practice", the sense in Chaucer and in the Middle English Dictionary;^[2][4][13] the OED notes that "custom" was very common in the 16th and early 17th centuries, and both senses died out in the 18th.^[4] The sense "outward appearance, semblance" is recorded from 1340.^[4] In Scots, from the early 16th century, a guise was a mask or disguise, or a masked dance,^[4] and Etymonline derives from this the sense "assumed appearance, pretence", from the 1660s, the main modern meaning, as in under the guise of.^[5][4] The verb, "to dress up", is recorded before 1400; in Scotland and the north of England guising was going about in disguise as a mummer,^[4][14] and Weekley traces geezer to the dialect guiser, a mummer.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – style of dress, attire.^[4]
• 1303 – manner of behaving; conduct (obsolete).^[4]
• 1340 – manner, way, fashion; outward appearance.^[4]
• before 1400 – custom, practice (obsolete by 1725).^[4]
• before 1400 – verb, to dress up.^[4]
• early 16th century – in Scots, a disguise or mask; a masquerade.^[4][5]
• 1662 – an assumed appearance; pretence.^[4][5]
• 1876 – verb, to go about in disguise, in Scotland and the north.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An outward form or appearance, especially a false one that hides the truth; a pretence or semblance: He visited under the guise of an old friend.^[16][4][3]
2. External appearance in general: The old story returns in a new guise.^[16][4]
3. (archaic) A style of dress; costume or garb.^[16][3][4]
4. (obsolete, 1340–1785) Manner, way or custom.^[16][4][7]

Verb

1. (archaic) To dress or dress up.^[16][3][4]
2. (dialect) To go about in disguise or fancy dress, especially as a mummer.^[16][3][14]

Related words

• disguise
• wise
• geezer
• wit
• vision

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ a b 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)
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins