jean English · revision 5689

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=eponym|attested=1495|origins=la-med Janua}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /dʒeɪn/, US /dʒiːn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is short for jean fustian, Middle English Gene fustian “fustian of Genoa”,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986)^(Collins 2023) from Gene, Jene, the English name of [[Genoa]],^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) [[bor|fro|Janne]] (modern French Gênes),^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)^(NODE 1998) from [[la-med|Janua|t=Genoa]], Latin Genua,^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) the city where the cloth was first made.^(NODE 1998) Compare the obsolete jane, a small silver coin of Genoa current in 15th-century England.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Genoese, of Genoa, as an adjective: 1495 in the OED, the late 15th century in the SOED,^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002) while Etymonline has Geayne for the cloth in the mid-15th century.^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A twilled cotton cloth, a kind of fustian, is from 1567 in the OED and MWU, at first spelled jene, geane.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024) The plural jeans, garments of this cloth, is from 1843 in the OED and the 19th century in Hoad,^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) and became the standard form by the mid-19th century;^(Etymonline) in 19th-century America jeans was a homespun wool cloth for men's clothes, often dyed brown with walnut.^(Etymonline) Close-fitting trousers of denim or similar cloth are ''jeans'' by 1908, noted as typical of teenagers from 1959;^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) they were not originally blue.^(Etymonline) The cloth is now usually denim.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * mid-15th century – Geayne, the cloth.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1495 – of Genoa.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1567 – a twilled cotton cloth.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1843 – ''jeans'', garments.^(OED 1989)

+ * by 1908 – ''jeans'', trousers.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1970 – ''jeaned'', wearing jeans.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A heavy, strong twilled [[cotton]] cloth, now usually [[denim]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(jeans)'' [[trousers|alt=Trousers]] made of denim or a similar cloth.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[jeaned]]

+ * [[jeans]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[denim]]

+ * [[fustian]]

+ * [[Genoa]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Jean as a name is the French equivalent of John, and as a woman's name the French form of Jane; in this use it is pronounced /dʒiːn/ in English.^(Etymonline)^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}