sari

Etymology

It is borrowed from Hindi साड़ी (sāṛī),^{[2][3][4][1][5]} from Prakrit sāḍī,^[6][7][1] from Sanskrit शाटी (śāṭī, “garment, petticoat”),^{[6][7][2][1][8]} which Barnhart calls of unknown origin^[6] and Wiktionary derives from शाट (śāṭa, “strip of cloth”).^[1] Wiktionary treats it as a doublet of shawl, which came through Persian.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A long wrapping garment of cotton or silk, worn by women in South Asia, and also the cloth itself: 1785, in a selection from the Calcutta Gazette.^[5][6][2] Hoad dates the word to the 18th century, in the spelling saurry,^[9] while Dictionary.com gives 1570–80.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline describes it as the long wrapping garment of silk or cotton worn by Hindu women.^[7] From 1858 it was also used in trade for an embroidered long scarf of gauze or silk.^[5] The spelling saree is also used.^[11][2][7]

Timeline

• 1785 – a long wrapping garment worn by women in South Asia; the cloth of which it is made.^[5][6][2]
• 1858 – an embroidered long scarf of gauze or silk.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The traditional garment of women of India and neighbouring countries: a single long piece of cotton or silk, about five to seven yards long, wrapped around the waist to form a skirt, with one end draped over the shoulder or head.^[11][2][12]
2. The cloth from which such a garment is made.^[5]

Related words

• shawl

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press