kimono

Etymology

It is borrowed from Japanese 着物 (kimono, “clothing, garb”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} literally "a thing put on", from 着 (ki, “wearing”) and 物 (mono, “thing”).^{[4][3][7][8][1]} Collins and the American Heritage Dictionary give the first part as the Japanese verb for "to wear, put on".^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Japanese coat: Weekley cites Peter Mundy, who wrote at Macao in 1637 of "kimaones, or Japan coates".^[11] Etymonline, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English likewise date the word to the mid 17th century,^[4][7][8] but the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged first record it in 1886,^[2][12][5] and Hoad and Collins date it to the 19th century.^[13][9]

Semantic evolution

At first the name of the long Japanese robe with sleeves, the word came to be applied in Western use to similar loose, wide-sleeved garments fastened with a sash and worn as a dressing gown or coat.^[2][13][7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged describes such a dressing gown as worn chiefly by women and babies,^[5] and Evans records kimono for a dress or gown fashioned after the Japanese garment.^[14] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records the spelling kimona.^[5] In South African gay slang, kimono has been an adjective meaning vulgar or tasteless, recorded in 2003.^[15]

Timeline

• 1637 – kimaones, Japanese coats, in Peter Mundy's account from Macao.^[11]
• 1886 – a long Japanese robe with sleeves.^[2][12][5]
• 2003 – adjective, vulgar, tasteless, in South African gay slang.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long, loose, wraparound robe with wide sleeves, tied with a broad sash and traditionally worn by Japanese men and women: She wore her grandmother's silk kimono to the tea ceremony.^[5][9][14]
2. A loose garment modelled on the Japanese robe, especially a dressing gown.^{[5][9][2][13]}

Word family

• kimonoed

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
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. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
13. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b Evans, Tom (1997), A Dictionary of Japanese Loanwords, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press
15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com