Etymologically
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suitcase

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 07:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈs(j)uːtkeɪs/[1]
  • US: /ˈsutkeɪs/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English suit + case, with suit in the sense of a set of clothes and case in the sense of a box or container.[2][3][4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small case for carrying a suit or suits when travelling: 1873, in an advertisement in the Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle.[2] The older dictionaries date it later: Merriam-Webster to 1897,[4] Etymonline to 1898,[3] Dictionary.com to 1900–05[6] and the Shorter Oxford to the early 20th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

Made at first to hold a suit, the case soon became any flat, usually rectangular travelling case for clothes and belongings.[2][3] The phrase to live out of a suitcase, to live with one's things still packed or to move from place to place, is recorded from 1920 in the OED[2] and by 1946 in Etymonline, which also has operate out of a suitcase from 1939.[3] By 1954 the word was used of nuclear weapons small enough to be carried in one.[3] In American jazz slang of the 1930s a suitcase was a drum kit.[7]

Timeline

  • 1873 – a case for carrying a suit when travelling.[2]
  • 1897 – first known use according to Merriam-Webster.[4]
  • 1920 – to live out of a suitcase.[2]
  • 1939 – US jazz slang, a drum kit.[7]
  • 1954 – of a small portable nuclear weapon.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A flat, usually rectangular travelling case with a handle and a hinged lid, for carrying clothes and other belongings: She packed her suitcase the night before the flight.[8][4][5][2]
  2. live out of a suitcase: to stay only briefly in each place, keeping one's things packed.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins