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vestito

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word vestito

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
first half of the 14th century
Inherited from
Latin vestitus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *wes-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vestio
French vêtir
Latin vestitus
Italian vestito
From the same root
Latin vestimentum ← vestio

Pronunciation

  • /vesˈti.to/[1]

Forms

vestito m (plural vestiti); as an adjective (feminine vestita, plurals vestiti, vestite)[1] Old Italian also had vestuto and vestìo.[2][3]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Latin vestītus (“clothing, dress”), the action noun of vestiō (“to clothe”).[4][5][6][3] It is found also in Friulian vistit, Occitan vestit, Catalan vestit, Spanish vestido and Portuguese vestido.[7] GDLI treats it instead as the past participle of the verb vestire, used as a noun.[2] The adjective is that participle.[8][6]

The Latin verb is formed from vestis (“garment, clothes”), which goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root *wes- (“to clothe”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first recorded in the first half of the 14th century, in Domenico Cavalca (before 1342), who writes of the vestiti preziosi (costly clothes) that the Apostle forbids to young wives.[4][3][2] The participle is older: Dante's Vita nuova has Beatrice vestita di nobilissimo colore (dressed in a most noble colour).[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian vestito meant clothing in general, and the phrase vitto e vestito “food and clothing” for one's keep survives in older usage.[2][3] The modern sense is a single complete garment: for a man, a suit of jacket and trousers; for a woman, a dress in one piece or a skirt and jacket.[5][8][9]

The adjective developed figurative senses, “covered” (hills clothed in snow) and, in botany, “still in its husk” (riso vestito).[5][8][3] Calzato e vestito, literally “shod and clothed”, came to mean “complete, out-and-out”, as in un asino calzato e vestito.[3][9]

Timeline

  • Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses the noun vestiti.[3][2]
  • 1869 – Tommaseo lists vestito da inverno, da estate and da mezza stagione.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A dress or suit, an outfit worn over underwear: Ha comprato un vestito blu per il matrimonio.[5][8][6]
  2. (in the plural) Clothes in general: Metti i vestiti nell'armadio.[8][1]
  3. (uncommon) Clothing as a need or expense.[5][8]

Adjective

  1. Dressed, with one's clothes on: Si è addormentato vestito sul divano.[5][8]
  2. Dressed in a particular way: sempre vestito di grigio, vestito a festa.[5][8][6]
  3. (figurative) Covered: colline vestite di vigneti.[5][6]
  4. (botany) Of a seed or grain, still in its husk: riso vestito.[5][8]

Word family

  • vestitino
  • vestitone
  • semivestito
  • vestaglia
  • veste
  • vestiario
  • vestimento
  • vestire
  • vestitura
  • vestizione
  • Latin vestitus

Usage notes

Nascere vestito, “to be born clothed”, is a dated way of saying someone was born lucky.[3][11] The usual diminutive is vestitino, and vestito della domenica is one's best clothes.[9][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Vestito.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/vestito. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·