gilet

See also: Gilet

English

WOTD – 16 July 2022

Etymology

A 19th-century Dutch embroidered silk gilet (sense 1.1) or waistcoat worn by a groom for a wedding.

A 21st-century gilet (sense 2) worn by the rapper Excellent from the hip-hop group Tuigcommissie based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Members of the Ceratizit–WNT Pro Cycling team who won the Round 7 teams classification of the Matrix Fitness GP Series in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, U.K., on 23 May 2017. The cyclists are wearing gilets (sense 2).

Borrowed from French gilet (“vest, waistcoat”), from regional Italian gileccu (Calabria), gilecco (Genoa), gelecco (Naples), ggileccu (Sicily), etc. (standard Italian gilè is borrowed from French), from Turkish yelek (“jelick; vest, waistcoat”) (ultimately from Proto-Turkic *yẹl (“wind”, noun)) with the final syllable modified to match other types of clothing such as corselet and mantelet. The Oxford English Dictionary does not regard the French word as having derived from Arabic جَلِيقَة (jalīqa), which it views as a recent borrowing from Italian into Algerian Arabic. Doublet of jelick.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʒiːleɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʒɪleɪ/, /ʒɪˈleɪ/
• Rhymes: (one GA pronunciation) -eɪ
• Hyphenation: gi‧let

Noun

gilet (plural gilets)

1. (historical)
   1. A waistcoat worn by a man.
   2. A bodice worn by a woman similar to a man's waistcoat; also, a decorative panel at the front of such a bodice, or worn separately.
2. (by extension) A sleeveless jacket resembling a waistcoat but generally closed at the neck; specifically, one which is padded to provide warmth.

   Synonym: bodywarmer

Translations

waistcoat worn by a man — see vest,‎ waistcoat

bodice worn by a woman similar to a man’s waistcoat; decorative panel at the front of such a bodice, or worn separately

• Ottoman Turkish: یلك (yelek)

sleeveless jacket resembling a waistcoat but generally closed at the neck; specifically, one which is padded to provide warmth — see also bodywarmer

• Finnish: liivi (fi)
• German: Gilet (de) n
• Japanese: ジレー (jirē)
• Russian: жиле́т (ru) m (žilét)
• Swedish: gilet (sv)
• Turkish: jile (tr)
• Vietnamese: gi-lê

Further reading

• gilet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “gilet”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• leg it, legit

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French gilet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒiˈlɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gi‧let
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

gilet n (plural gilets, diminutive giletje n)

1. waistcoat, vest

French

Etymology

From regional Italian gileccu (Calabria), gilecco (Genoa), gelecco (Naples), ggileccu (Sicily), etc. (standard Italian gilè is borrowed from French), from Turkish yelek (“jelick; vest, waistcoat”) (ultimately from Proto-Turkic *yẹl (“wind”, noun)) with the final syllable modified to match other types of clothing such as corselet and mantelet. The Oxford English Dictionary does not regard the word as having derived from Arabic جَلِيقَة (jalīqa), which it views as a recent borrowing from Italian into Algerian Arabic. Compare Greek γιλέκο (giléko), Spanish chaleco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒi.lɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

gilet m (plural gilets)

1. waistcoat, vest
2. sweater

   Synonyms: pull, tricot, chandail

Derived terms

• gilet de sauvetage
• gilet jaune
• gilet pare-balle/gilet pare-balles

Descendants

• → Dutch: gilet
• → English: gilet
• → Franco-Provençal: g·ilèt
• → Italian: gilè
• → Russian: жиле́т (žilét)

Further reading

• “gilet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Picard

Noun

gilet m

1. sweater; jumper