Where does “dressmaker” come from?
Dressmaker comes from Middle English dress combined with maker, derived from the agent suffix -er, which traces through Old French -er and Latin -āre (infinitive ending) to Latin regō, meaning to direct or rule.
dressmaker (English): A person who makes tailor-made women's clothes
Definitions
- A person who makes tailor-made women's clothes
Ancestry of “dressmaker”, step by step
dressmaker traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English dress
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | dress | To fit out with the necessary clothing; to... |
| 2 | English | -ing | Used to form gerunds, a type of verbal nouns,... |
| 3 | Old English | -ing | Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action,... |
| 4 | Old English | -tūn | homestead, village, town |
| 5 | Old English | tūn | enclosure, yard; place; dwelling |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | tūn | fence |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | tūną | fence; enclosure |
| 8 | Gaulish | dunum | fort; hill, hillfort |
| 9 | Proto-Celtic | dūnom | stronghold, rampart |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |
via English maker
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | maker | Someone who makes; a person or thing that makes... |
| 2 | Middle English | maker | God as creator of all; Someone who makes; a... |
| 3 | Middle English | maken | To make or create; to have something made |
| 4 | Old English | macian | to make |
| 5 | Emilian | mâcia | spot, stain |
| 6 | Latin | Macula | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | smh₁-tleh₂ | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | smeh₁- | smear, rub |