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Etymology and origin of the English word sash

Pronunciation

sash1 band worn over the shoulder or round the waist

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1599 Hakluyt, Principal Navigations
Borrowed from
Arabic شَاش
Ultimate origin
Arabic شَاش

Etymology

The band is borrowed from Arabic شَاش (šāš, “muslin; turban”),[2][3][4][5][6] first borrowed as shash.[2][3][7] The spelling sash arose by dissimilation of the two sh-sounds; it is first recorded in 1687, after an earlier shass of 1617.[3][7] The American Heritage Dictionary relates the Arabic word to a Hebrew word for fine linen, both probably from Egyptian šs (“linen”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A length of fine cloth worn twisted round the head as a turban, in Middle Eastern countries: 1599, in Ralph Fitch's account in Hakluyt's Principal Navigations.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Ayto explains that the Arabic word meant both a turban and the strip of muslin from which turbans were made, and that the second meaning led to the modern sense.[8] Trench noted that the word first meant the roll of silk or linen worn about the head, and quoted Herbert's Travels (1638) for a Persian whose head "was wreathed with a huge shash".[9] The turban sense died out in the early 18th century.[2][5] From 1681 a sash was a scarf worn by men over one shoulder or round the waist, often as a mark of military rank,[2][3][10] and later also an ornamental band worn by women and children.[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a belt worn by way of distinction".[11]

Timeline

  • 1599 – “shash”, cloth wound round the head as a turban (obsolete by 1718).[2][3]
  • 1617 – the form “shass”.[3]
  • 1681 – a scarf worn over the shoulder or round the waist.[2][3]
  • 1687 – the spelling sash.[3]
  • before 1797 – verb, to adorn with a sash, in Burke.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A long band of cloth worn round the waist or over one shoulder, as an ornament or as a sign of rank or office: The mayor wore a red sash at the ceremony.[12][4][2]
  2. (obsolete, 1599–1718) A turban.[4][2]

Verb

  1. To dress or adorn with a sash.[4][2]

Word family

  • sashed
  • sashless

sash2 window frame

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing, Back-formation
First attested
1681 Cotton, Wonders of Peake
Borrowed from
French châssis
Ultimate origin
Latin capsa

Etymology

The window frame is probably borrowed from French châssis (“frame of a window or door”),[4][2][3][5][6] taken as a plural, so that a new singular sash was formed from it.[3][5][13][14] It is first recorded in the plural “sashes”, and Weekley and Hoad give the earlier forms shash and shashes;[3][7][13] the singular appears before 1704.[3][10] The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins notes that both French and English speakers then pronounced the final -s of chassis.[15] The French word goes back to Latin capsa (“box”),[8][15] and English borrowed it again in the 20th century as chassis.[15][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A frame fitted with panes of glass, forming a window or part of one: 1681, in Charles Cotton's Wonders of Peake.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word was used especially for the sliding frames of a sash window, held in grooves by cords and weights.[2][5] From 1687 to 1822 it also meant a window frame covered with paper or linen instead of glass, the older meaning of chassis,[2] and since 1707 a glazed light of a greenhouse or garden frame.[2] American English added a frame that holds a saw blade taut (1875).[2] The verb, to fit with sash windows, is recorded from the early 18th century, in Celia Fiennes's diary;[2][5] Barnhart dates it to 1796, in Burke.[3] The sash door, with panes to let in light, is recorded by 1726.[10]

Timeline

  • 1681 – a glazed window frame, at first in the plural “sashes”.[2][3]
  • 1687 – a window frame covered with paper or linen (obsolete by 1822).[2]
  • before 1704 – the singular sash.[3]
  • 1700s – verb, to furnish with sash windows.[2][5]
  • 1707 – a glazed light of a garden frame.[2]
  • 1726 – sash door.[10]
  • 1875 – a frame stretching a saw blade, in the United States.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A frame holding the panes of glass of a window or door, especially either of the two sliding frames of a sash window: He painted the window sashes white.[12][4][2]
  2. A glazed frame covering a greenhouse or cold frame.[4][2]

Verb

  1. To fit with a sash or sash windows.[12][4][2]

Word family

  • sash cord
  • sash weight

Usage notes

Johnson (1755) admitted that etymologists gave no account of the word, and guessed that it came from French sçavoir, to know, since a sash was a mark of distinction and a sash window was made for seeing and being seen.[11]

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 y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  14. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  15. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Sash.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/sash. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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