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tailor

Etymology and origin of the English word tailor

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈteɪlə/ (UK); /ˈteɪlɚ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English taillour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman taillour,[2][3][4][5][6] from Old French tailleor “cutter”,[2][3][4][6] from taillier “to cut”,[2][3][4][5][6] from Late Latin tāliāre (“to split”), from Latin tālea (“slender stick, cutting”).[2][3][4][5][6] It is related to tally and detail.[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

One whose business is to make clothes, especially men's outer garments (1297).[7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Literally a “cutter”, the French word was also used of a stonemason.[4] The OED notes that although historically the tailor was the cutter, in the trade the tailor is the one who sews up what the cutter has shaped.[4] The verb meant “to do tailor's work” (1662)[7][3] and “to make by tailor's work” (1856),[7][3] and in American English from 1942 “to design or adapt to suit specific needs”.[7][3][4]

Timeline

  • 1297 – a maker of clothes.[7][3]
  • 1662 – verb, to work as a tailor.[7][3]
  • 1719 – Merriam-Webster's date for the verb.[5]
  • 1856 – verb, to make by tailoring.[7][3]
  • 1942 – verb, to adapt to a particular purpose.[7][3][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person who makes, repairs or alters garments such as suits, coats and dresses.

Verb

  1. To make (a garment), especially to individual measurements.
  2. To make, alter or adapt for a particular purpose, as in tailor a program to the user.
  3. To fit or provide (a person) with clothes.
  4. To work as a tailor.

Word family

  • tailorbird
  • tailor-made
  • detail
  • tally
  • retail
  • entail

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tailor.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/tailor. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·