manteau

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French manteau (“mantle”). In the Iranian context, borrowed from Persian مانتو‎ (mânto), originating in the Qajar period. Doublet of mantle and mantel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæntəʊ/
• Rhymes: -æntəʊ

Noun

manteau (plural manteaus or manteaux)

1. A cloak or gown, especially of a kind popular with women in the 17th and 18th centuries.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 915:

     Not to mention the need to keep her manteau from becoming a sort of anti-parachute which sought to lift her free of the pavement.

1. (Iran) A long, loose-fitting coat worn by Iranian Muslim women based off the trenchcoat, originally worn with a square Arabic-style hijab and in plain colours such as beige, black, pale blue or cream, originating in the 1970s as a political statement by young, educated women, especially students, many devoted to leftist or modern Islamist ideals, though in the decades following the Iranian Revolution has come to be worn as a tighter-fitting garment with a looser scarf by younger Iranian women as a way of compromising with the country’s mandatory hijab laws while remaining fashionable.

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French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin mantellum, diminutive of mantum. Compare Italian mantello.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑ̃.to/

• Audio (FR)

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• Audio

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• Audio (Switzerland)

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• Rhymes: -o
• Homophones: manteaux, mentaux

Noun

manteau m (plural manteaux)

1. coat

   Synonym: pardessus

2. mantle (garment worn by Orthodox bishops)
3. (geology) mantle
4. (biology) mantle (of molluscs)
5. (heraldry) pavilion

Related terms

• mante
• mantelet
• manteau de cheminée
• sous le manteau

Descendants

• → English: manteau
• → English: mantua
• → Japanese: マント (manto)
• → Korean: 망토 (mangto)
• → Romanian: manta, mantou
• → Russian: манто (manto)
• → Turkish: manto
• → Persian: مانتو‎

Further reading

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