Etymologically
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jacket

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈdʒæk.ɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English jaket, borrowed from Middle French jaquet (“short coat with sleeves”),[2][3][4] a diminutive of Old French jaque, a kind of tunic,[3][2][5] of uncertain origin.[3][6] It is probably from Jacques, the name given to the French peasant in the 14th century, because peasants wore it (see jacquerie and jack);[2][3][6][4] Kluge preferred jaque (de mailles), a coat of mail, from Spanish jaco and Arabic šakk “breastplate”.[2][3] English also had jakke, a quilted tunic, from the late 14th century, and jacket may be an English diminutive of it.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short garment for men: 1451 in Barnhart, 1462 in the OED.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

A woman's outer garment of the kind is from 1756,[7] and a jockey's silk jacket from 1856.[7] To dust someone's jacket, to thrash them, is one of several phrases from the 17th century on.[7] An outer covering or casing, as round a boiler or pipe, is from 1815,[2][7] and the paper wrapper of a book from 1894 in Barnhart and the OED, by 1886 in Etymonline.[2][7][3] The skin of a potato is also a jacket, as in jacket potatoes.[8][9] The verb, to put a jacket on, is from 1861.[2][7]

Timeline

  • 1451 – a short coat.[2]
  • 1756 – a woman's jacket.[7]
  • 1815 – an outer casing.[2][7]
  • 1856 – a jockey's jacket.[7]
  • 1861 – the verb.[2][7]
  • 1894 – a book jacket.[2][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A short coat, usually reaching to the hips, with sleeves and a front opening.
  2. An outer covering or casing, as for insulating a boiler or pipe.
  3. A loose paper cover for a book; a dust jacket.
  4. The skin of a baked potato.

Verb

  1. To cover with a jacket.

Word family

  • jacketed
  • jacketless
  • jacketlike
  • bluejacket
  • straitjacket
  • leatherjacket
  • air jacket
  • jack
  • jacquerie
  • life jacket

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins