negligee

Etymology

It is borrowed from French négligé,^[2][3][4][5] or its feminine négligée, as Barnhart, Etymonline and Collins give it,^[6][7][8] the past participle of négliger (“to neglect”), recorded in Old French from about 1200.^[2] In French négligé was an adjective, negligently dressed, from 1640, and a noun from 1687; as the name of a loose gown worn by a woman in private it is recorded from 1789.^[2] Négliger is from Latin neglegō (“to disregard, not heed, make light of”),^[7][2][6] also written negligō,^[4][9] literally "not to pick up", from nec (“not”) and legō (“to pick up, select”).^[7] The word is thus related to neglect and negligent.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, of a person, dressed informally: 1718, in John Breval's play Play is Plot.^[2] As a noun, a loose gown worn by women in the 18th century: 1750 in Etymonline, in a ribald ballad,^[7] 1755 in the OED and Merriam-Webster,^[2][4] and 1756 in Barnhart.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The 18th-century gown was so called because it was informal next to the elaborate full dress of a lady of the time.^[7] The OED's first record of it is American, in the Boston Evening Post.^[2] The OED notes that rhymes show the last vowel was then pronounced /iː/,^[2] and Etymonline reports that Grose (1788) gave the vulgar form neggledigee.^[7] The fashion faded by about 1830,^[7] and the word was taken up again in the 19th century in new senses:^[7] informal dress in general (1835),^[2] a woman's light dressing gown, often of flimsy fabric trimmed with lace or ruffles (1862),^[2] and, according to Etymonline, a soft shirt for men without starched collar and cuffs, which was in fashion around 1890.^[7] Barnhart dates the modern sense of a woman's dressing gown to 1930, as a revival of the 18th-century word.^[6] American undertakers called a shroud a negligee (1927).^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1718 – adjective, dressed informally.^[2]
• 1750 – a loose gown worn by women in the 18th century.^[7] The OED's first record is from 1755, in the Boston Evening Post.^[2]
• 1753 – a kind of man's wig (obsolete).^[2]
• 1824 – a necklace of irregularly set beads or pearls.^[2]
• 1835 – very informal attire.^[2]
• 1862 – a woman's light dressing gown, or a nightgown.^[2] Barnhart dates the modern sense to 1930.^[6]
• 1927 – in American undertakers' use, a shroud.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman's light, loose dressing gown, often of thin fabric trimmed with lace: She came down to breakfast in a silk negligee.^[8][4][2]
2. A thin and revealing nightdress.^[8][2]
3. Informal or incomplete attire; dishabille.^[8][4][2]
4. (historical) A loose gown worn by women in the 18th century.^[4][2][5]
5. (US) A shroud.^[2][5]

Related words

• neglect
• negligent
• negligible

Usage notes

The word is also written negligée and, as in French, négligé.^[8][4][5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House