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Etymology and origin of the English word vest

English has a noun vest, a garment, taken from French in the 17th century, and a verb vest, to put in possession, taken from Old French in the 15th; both go back to Latin vestis, clothing.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

vest1 garment

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1613
Borrowed from
French veste
Ultimate origin
Latin vestis
Etymology tree of vest1
inherited borrowed derived
French veste
English vest

Etymology

It is borrowed from French veste (“a vest, jacket”),[1][5][6][7] from Italian veste (“robe, gown”), also vesta,[1][5][8] from Latin vestis (“clothing, garment”).[1][5][6][9] The Latin noun is related to ἐσθής (esthḗs, “clothing”) and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to clothe”),[1][5][9][6] the root that also gave wear.[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A loose outer garment, a robe or gown, of the kind worn by men in ancient times or in Eastern countries: 1613, in Sir Anthony Sherley's account of his travels in Persia.[1][2][8]

Semantic evolution

The modern garment began at the English court: on 8 October 1666 Samuel Pepys wrote that King Charles II had announced a new fashion of a vest, "to teach the nobility thrift".[1][5][3][8] This was a long sleeveless garment worn under the coat, which soon became the shorter waistcoat.[1][10] The United States kept vest for the waistcoat, while British English, from 1851, used the word for an undergarment worn next to the skin.[1][3] Women's outer garments were called vests from about 1700,[1][5] and in American English a short sleeveless jacket for a woman from 1909.[1] In American slang a vest is a bulletproof vest (1933).[11] The phrase vest-pocket, for something small of its kind, dates from 1823.[5]

Timeline

  • 1613 – a loose outer robe or gown.[1][2]
  • 1655 – a garment in figurative use.[1]
  • c. 1660 – an ecclesiastical vestment (rare).[1]
  • 1666 – a sleeveless garment worn under the coat; a waistcoat.[1][8]
  • 1700 – a robe worn by women.[1]
  • 1823 – vest-pocket, small.[5]
  • 1851 – an undergarment for the upper body.[1]
  • 1909 – (US) a short sleeveless jacket for women.[1]
  • 1933 – (US slang) a bulletproof vest.[11]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (British) A sleeveless undergarment worn on the upper body: He wore a thermal vest under his shirt.
  2. (US, Canada and Australia) A sleeveless garment worn under a suit jacket; a waistcoat.
  3. A sleeveless garment worn for a particular purpose, such as a bulletproof or life vest.
  4. (archaic) A loose outer robe or gown.

Word family

  • undervest
  • vestee
  • vestless
  • bulletproof vest
  • vest-pocket

vest2 to confer

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1425
Borrowed from
Old French vestir via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin vestiō
Etymology tree of vest2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vestio
French vêtir
English vest
From the same root · vest2
Latin vestimentum ← vestio
Latin vestitus ← vestio

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vesten,[2][5] borrowed from Old French vestir (“to clothe; to invest”), also vester,[1][5][2][9] from Medieval Latin vestio (“to put into possession, invest”), in classical Latin vestiō (“to clothe, dress”), from vestis (“clothing”).[1][5][8][10] The Shorter Oxford takes the English verb from the past participle vestu (“clothed”).[10][12] Ayto explains that the Latin verb, at first "to clothe", came to mean putting someone into an office by dressing them in its robes.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put an estate, right or title into someone's possession: about 1425, in Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland.[1][8]

Semantic evolution

The legal use, as in authority vested in the trustees, came first,[8][1] and the verb is still used mostly of rights, property and power;[13][1] in other senses it has largely been replaced by invest, according to Weekley.[13] From 1464 a person could be vested in a possession,[1][8] and after 1674 with a quality such as power or authority.[1][8] The sense "to dress in a garment", especially in church vestments, is recorded from 1513, in Gavin Douglas's Aeneid,[1][8] and figurative clothing from 1679.[1] The adjective vested, settled in someone's possession, dates from 1766,[8] and vested interest from 1818.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – to put property or rights into someone's possession.[1][8]
  • 1464 – to establish a person in possession.[1][8]
  • 1513 – to dress, especially in church vestments.[1][8]
  • 1592 – intransitive, to pass into someone's possession.[1]
  • 1659 – with power or authority as object.[1]
  • 1674 – to invest a person with a quality.[1][8]
  • 1818 – vested interest.[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To give property, a right or authority to a person or body: Power to approve the budget is vested in the council.
  2. To give someone a right or power: The board was vested with authority to appoint the director.
  3. Of a right or property, to pass into someone's possession; to become legally fixed.
  4. To dress, especially in church vestments.

Word family

  • vested
  • vested interest
  • vesting

References

  1. ^ 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 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Vest.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/vest. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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