Persistence of clothing terminology

Despite the constant introduction of new terms by fashion designers, clothing manufacturers and marketers, the names for several basic garment classes in English are very stable over time. Gown, shirt/skirt, frock, and coat are all attested back to the early medieval period.

Gown (from medieval Latin gunna) was a basic clothing term for hundreds of years, referring to a garment that hangs from the shoulders. In medieval and renaissanceEngland gown referred to a loose outer garment worn by both men and women, sometimes short, more often ankle length, with sleeves. By the 18th century gown had become a standard category term for a women's dress, a meaning it retained until the mid-20th century. Only in the last few decades has gown lost this general meaning in favor of dress. Today the term gown is rare except in specialized cases: academic dress or cap and gown, evening gown, nightgown, hospital gown, and so on (seeGown).

Shirt and skirt are originally the same word, the former being the southern and the latter the northern pronunciation in early Middle English. Like gown, shirt is becoming a specialized term in Britain, though it retains its general meaning in the United States (see Shirt).

Coat remains a term for an overgarment, its essential meaning for the last thousand years (see Coat).