necktie

Etymology

It is formed from English neck + tie.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A narrow band worn round the collar and tied in front: 1838, in The Workwoman's Guide.^[2][5][3] Dictionary.com dates it to 1830–40.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The OED now labels the word chiefly American,^[2] and Collins gives it as the US name for a tie.^[6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged names the four-in-hand as the usual kind, and compares bow tie.^[5] In American slang a necktie was also a hangman's noose, recorded from 1866 in the OED,^[2] and a necktie party was a lynching or hanging: Etymonline and Green's Dictionary of Slang date the phrase to 1871,^[3][7] the OED to 1882.^[2] Green's also records necktie frolic and necktie sociable.^[7]

Timeline

• 1838 – a band of material worn round the neck under the collar and tied in front.^[2][5][3]
• 1866 – US slang, a hangman's noose.^[2] Green's Dictionary of Slang's earliest quotation is from 1878.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long narrow strip of fabric worn round the neck under a shirt collar and knotted at the front; a tie: He loosened his necktie after the meeting.^[5][2][6]
2. (US slang, historical) A hangman's noose.^[2][7]

Word family

• necktieless
• necktie party

Related words

• neck
• tie
• bow tie

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com