Etymologically
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wardrobe

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈwɔːdɹəʊb/[1]
  • US: /ˈwɔɹdɹoʊb/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English warderobe,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman warderobe, the Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French form of garderobe (“dressing room, place where clothes are kept”),[4][5][6][7] a compound of warder (“to keep, guard”) and robe (“garment”).[7][5][8] The first element is related to ward and guard, and the second is the source of robe.[8][9][7] Merriam-Webster notes that both are of Germanic origin: the verb is akin to Old High German wartēn (“to watch, take care”), and the noun first meant booty, akin to roub (“booty”).[10] The central French form, recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1210, was also used in Middle English from 1333–34 and survives as the historical term garderobe.[11][5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OED's earliest sense, a privy, is found a1325 in a life of St Hilary.[4] The sense "private chamber, especially a bedroom" appears in Cursor Mundi (copy of a1400 of a text of about 1325), which Barnhart dates about 1325 and Etymonline about 1300.[4][5][7]

Semantic evolution

The room in which clothes, and sometimes armour and other valuables, were kept is recorded from 1387 by Barnhart, the early 14th century by Etymonline and c. 1440 by the OED.[5][7][4] From 1424 the Wardrobe was the department of the royal household that supplied clothing, armour and furnishings.[4][8] A person's stock of clothes is dated before 1400 by Barnhart, about 1400 by Etymonline and 1462 (the Paston inventories) by the OED.[5][7][4] As a piece of furniture the word is recorded from 1794, in Hepplewhite's Cabinet-Maker, according to Barnhart and Etymonline,[5][7] and Ayto says the room did not shrink to a cupboard until the 18th century;[9] the revised OED, however, finds a cupboard for clothes in the Promptorium Parvulorum of 1440.[4] Johnson (1755) still defined it as "a room where cloaths are kept".[12] The theatre took the word for its costumes (1666, Pepys), the room where they are kept (1711, Addison) and, from 1907, the costume department.[4][7] A figurative sense, a store of things ready for use, dates from 1532, and sailors speak of a yacht's wardrobe of sails from 1914.[4] The euphemism wardrobe malfunction is attested from 2004.[7]

Timeline

  • a1325 – a privy (obsolete).[4]
  • about 1325 – a private chamber, a bedroom;[5] c. 1300 in Etymonline.[7]
  • 1387 – a room where clothes are kept;[5] c. 1440 in the OED.[4]
  • before 1400 – a person's stock of clothes;[5] 1462 in the OED.[4]
  • 1424 – the royal Wardrobe, a department of the household.[4]
  • 1440 – a cupboard for clothes;[4] 1794 in Barnhart and Etymonline.[5][7]
  • 1532 – figurative, a store or collection.[4]
  • 1666 – the costumes of a theatre.[4]
  • 1711 – a theatre's costume room.[4][7]
  • 1907 – a costume department.[4]
  • 1914 – the sails carried on a yacht.[4]
  • 2004 – wardrobe malfunction.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A tall cupboard or closet with a rail or hooks on which clothes are hung.
  2. The whole collection of clothes that a person owns: She needs a new wardrobe for her job in Oslo.
  3. The costumes of a theatre company or production; also the department that looks after them.
  4. (historical) The department of a royal or noble household in charge of clothing, armour and the like.
  5. (sailing) The set of sails carried on a boat.

Word family

  • chifforobe
  • wardrobe mistress
  • wardrobe trunk

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.