fashion English · revision 2991

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=la factiō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfæʃ.ᵊn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|fasoun]], facioun,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|xno|fasun]], Old French façon “face, appearance; construction, design; manner”,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la|factiō|t=a making, doing; a group acting together]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|la|facere|t=to make]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[ine-pro|*dhe-|t=to set, put]].^(Etymonline) It is a doublet of [[faction]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) The verb is from the noun.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Physical make, form, shape, appearance: probably about 1300, in ''Sir Beves of Hamtoun'',^(Barnhart 1988) about 1300 in Etymonline^(Etymonline) and before 1300 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A particular style or manner of make or dress is from the late 14th century,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and a prevailing custom or mode of dress in a place and time from the late 15th century.^(Etymonline) Word Origins notes that someone ''out of fashion'' in the early 1500s was “out of shape”, and that the sense of a popular style of clothes or behaviour developed in the mid-16th century;^(Cresswell 2021) Shakespeare has both ''in fashion'' and ''out of fashion'', about 1600.^(Etymonline) ''After a fashion'', “to a certain extent”, is from the 1530s,^(Etymonline) and conformity to the tastes of fashionable society from the 1630s.^(Etymonline) ''Fashion plate'', a magazine picture of the latest dress, is from 1851, and a well-dressed person by the 1920s.^(Etymonline) The verb, “to shape, form”, is from 1413, in Lydgate.^(Barnhart 1988) In western English dialect ''fashion'' is also a disease of horses, an altered form of ''farcy''.^(Wright 1898)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – form, shape.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * late 14th century – a style, manner.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1413 – verb, to shape.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * late 15th century – prevailing custom.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1530s – ''after a fashion''.^(Etymonline)

+ * mid-16th century – popular style of dress.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1851 – ''fashion plate''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A popular or current [[style]], especially of [[clothing]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The business of designing and selling clothes.^(Collins 2023)

+ # A manner or way of doing something: ''in an orderly fashion''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(archaic)'' Kind, sort; shape or form.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To give shape or form to; to make.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To adapt or fit to a purpose.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fashioner]]

+ * [[fashionless]]

+ * [[antifashion]]

+ * [[antifashionable]]

+ * [[fashionable]]

+ * [[fashionista]]

+ * [[fashionmonger]]

+ * [[new-fashioned]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fact]]

+ * [[faction]]

+ * [[factional]]

+ * [[factor]]

+ * [[factorial]]

+ * [[factory]]

+ * [[feature]]

+ * [[feat]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Fashion'' is the broadest of several words for a prevailing manner of dress or behaviour;^(AHD) ''style'' suggests distinction, ''mode'' and ''vogue'' a current preference.^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}