lingerie

Etymology

It is borrowed from French lingerie (“linen goods, things made of linen”),^[2][3][4][5] a derivative of linge (“linen”) with the suffix -erie (English -ery);^[5][6][7] Etymonline derives it from linger (“a dealer in linen goods”).^[3] The noun Old French linge (12th century) was originally an adjective, from Latin līneus (“made of flax or linen”),^[3][5][8][9] from līnum (“flax, linen”),^[3][4][10] which is also the source of line.^[5][6] The Latin word is related to Ancient Greek λίνον (línon, “flax”) and to the Old English word that survives in linseed.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Linen articles collectively; all the articles of linen, lace and the like in a woman's wardrobe or trousseau: 1835, in the Court Magazine & Belle Assemblée.^[2][4] Etymonline notes reports that it was not in wide use before 1852.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In French the word meant linen goods, and since the 15th century also a laundry room, linen warehouse, linen shop or market, and the name of a street in Paris.^[3] English took it over as a euphemism for underlinen, which it was then thought improper to name,^[3] and Weekley (1921) predicted that this euphemism would in time itself become indelicate and be replaced, as shift had replaced smock.^[12] The meaning narrowed to women's underwear and nightclothes,^[13][14] and the word came to be used of garments of cotton and artificial fabrics too, which Etymonline calls unetymological.^[3] It is used attributively from 1865, in Gaskell's Wives and Daughters,^[2] and of clothes with a frilly, delicate finish like that of fine underwear.^[5]

Timeline

• 1835 – linen articles, especially those of a woman's wardrobe or trousseau.^[2][4][5]
• 1852 – in wide use, according to Etymonline.^[3]
• before 1865 – attributive use, in Gaskell.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Women's underwear and nightclothes: a shop selling silk lingerie.^[14][5][13]
2. (archaic) Linen goods or garments collectively.^[14][5]

Adjective

1. Having a frilly, delicate finish like that of fine women's underwear: a lingerie blouse.^[5][2]

Related words

• linen
• line
• linseed

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins