# to  wear (clothes) - etymology



## Messquito

I would like to know what is "to wear (clothes)" in your language and perhaps its etymology.
In English, according to Wiktionary, wear derived from Proto-Indo-European wer-, which means to *cover* or guard. Cognates include ward, wary, aware, warn, garnish, guard, etc.
It came to mean "to wear clothes" probably because clothes *cover* our body.

In Chinese, wear is 穿，which also means to *penetrate*. When we wear clothes, our body parts *penetrate* the clothings, e.g. arms penetrate the shirts through the sleeves, etc.

Edit:

There is another more formal term 著, which also means to attach, to adhere.


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## ger4

German uses the verb _tragen_, 'to carry', or, in more casual speech, _anhaben_, lit. 'to have on'.

_She is wearing a blue dress
= Sie trägt ein blaues Kleid (lit. 'she carries a blue dress')
= Sie hat ein blaues Kleid an (lit. 'she has a blue dress on')_


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## Dymn

In Catalan and Spanish it's like German:

Catalan:
_- portar _("to carry, bring"), from Latin _portare _(same meaning; cf. en _port, transport, export_)
_- dur _("to carry, bring"), from Latin _ducere _("to lead, guide"; cf. en _duke, conduct, _it _duce_)

Spanish:
- _llevar_ ("to carry, bring"), from Latin _levare _("to raise"; cf. en _elevate_), from _levis _"light, not heavy"

There's also, less common and more formal, _vestir _in both languages, from Latin _vestire _(same meaning) which apparenty comes from the same PIE root as English _wear._


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## apmoy70

In Greek too (like German, Catalan, or Spanish), the verb is *«φοράω/φορώ»* [foˈɾa.o] (uncontracted)/[foˈɾo] (contracted) --> _to wear clothes_ < Classical v. *«φορέω/φορῶ» pʰŏréō* (uncontracted)/*pʰŏrô* (contracted) --> _to bear, load, wear clothes, dress_.
«Φορέω/φορῶ» is an o-grade ablaut of the Classical v. *«φέρω» pʰérō* --> _to bear, endure, carry off, bring away, provide_ (PIE *bʰer- _to bear, carry_ cf Skt. भरति (bhárati), _to carry_, Lat. ferre, Proto-Germanic *beraną > Ger. gebären, Eng. bear, Dt. baren; Proto-Slavic *bьrati > Rus. брать, Cz. brát, Svk. brať, Pol. brać, OCS бьрати > BCS brati/брати, Bul. бера).

In vernacular MoGr the word for cloth(es) is *«ρούχο»* [ˈɾuxo] (neut. nom. sing.), *«ρούχα»* [ˈɾuxa] (neut. nom. pl.) < Byz.Gr. neut. *«ῥοῦχον» rhoûkhon* (nom. sing.), *«ῥοῦχα» rhoûkha* (nom. pl.) < South-Slavic ру́хо --> _clothing, garment_.

In Classical Greek the word for cloth was *«ἔνδυμα» éndumă* (neuter deverbal) --> lit. _the thing in which we plunge_, or _the thing which we put on_ < Classical v. *«ἐνδύω» ĕndúō* and *«ἐνδύνω» ĕndúnō* (active voice) --> _to put on clothes_, *«ἐνδύ(ν)ομαι» ĕndúŏma̯i*/*ĕndúnŏma̯i* (mediopassive voice)*** --> _to be clothed in_ < compound; prefix adverb & preposition *«ἐν» en* --> _in, within_ (PIE *h₁en(i)- _in_ cf Lat. in, Proto-Germanic *in) + Classical v. *«δύω» dúō* --> _(trans.) to enter, dive, plunge, (intrans.) to get into, slip into, put on_ (PIE *deu- _to go in, enter_ cf Skt. उपादत्ते (upā-*datte*), _to take up_).

***which has produced the MoGr aphetic v. *«ντύνομαι»* [ˈdinome] (mediopassive voice) --> _to get dressed, put clothes on_.


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## bibax

Czech (similarly like in German):

*nositi* (šaty, oděv) = lit. to carry (clothes);

*míti na sobě* = lit. to have on oneself;

[Ona] nosí modré šaty. = She wears a blue dress (regularly, usually, ...).

Má na sobě modré šaty. = She is wearing a blue dress (right now).
Na sobě má modré šaty.
Ona má na sobě modré šaty.

The sentence *Ona *_*nosí modré šaty*_ is somewhat ambiguous. It can means a) she wears a blue dress, or b) she carries blue dresses, maybe she works in a factory producing dresses and she carries/transports the blue dresses from one shop floor to another.


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## rusita preciosa

Russian:

Vasmer says that the root of the Russian verbs *на**деть* [nadet'], *о**деть* [odet'] (to put on / to don) are related to the Slavic / Indo-European source words "to put/to place". They may be cognates with English "to do/to don".

*Hосить* [nosit'] (to wear) has another meaning, 'to carry around".


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## ThomasK

Holger2014 said:


> German uses the verb _tragen_, 'to carry', or, in more casual speech, _anhaben_, lit. 'to have on'.
> 
> _She is wearing a blue dress
> = Sie trägt ein blaues Kleid (lit. 'she carries a blue dress')
> = Sie hat ein blaues Kleid an (lit. 'she has a blue dress on')_


Same thing in Dutch: *ze draagt een* ... [informal: ze heeft een ... aan]
The origin of "tragen"' seems to be "to pull [on?]", maybe even "to drag". I am not sure this "(a)an" is really "on". I think it is something like "close to", as in "an der Tür/ aan de deur".


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## ger4

ThomasK said:


> I am not sure this "(a)an" is really "on". I think it is something like "close to", as in "an der Tür/ aan de deur".


 I think the same can be said about German _an_, so perhaps instead of 'she has a blue dress on', a more literal translation should have been something like 'she has a blue dress close to (herself)' or 'at (herself)' (adding 'herself' only to make it sound slightly more English...)


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## DaylightDelight

In Japanese, 着る [kiru] is the most generic term for "to wear".  The letter 着 also means "to attach" so I think the relation here is rather obvious -- to attach clothes on one's body.


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## Armas

Finnish:

_pukea_ "to dress, to put on (clothes)", _pukeutua_ "to get dressed, to put one's clothes on", the perfect tense is used to mean "to wear". It is related to _pujottaa_ the meaning of which is to put something elongated through a small hole, like threading a needle.


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## DrChen

DaylightDelight said:


> In Japanese, 着る [kiru] is the most generic term for "to wear".


DaylightDelight, I understand that you chose to make it succinct, but it is such a fascinating side of the Japanese language (one among many), so I'd like to tell everybody about how varied the terms for "wear" are in Japanese.

Actually, Japanese people do not use the same verb depending on _how_ you put the clothes on you.

shoes, socks, pants, skirts, anything you "put on" from the bottom : 履く (haku)
t-shirts, sweaters, kimonos, anything you "put on" from the top : 着る (kiru)
hats, caps, anything you put on your head : 被る (kaburu)
glasses: かける (kakeru)
bra, watch, accessories : する (suru)

...and many more that I don't know  
As to their etymology, I would love if someone could explain !! (thank you DaylightDelight for your explanation for 着る that indeed makes sense.)


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## Messquito

DrChen said:


> shoes, socks, pants, skirts, anything you "put on" from the bottom : 履く (haku)
> t-shirts, sweaters, kimonos, anything you "put on" from the top : 着る (kiru)
> hats, caps, anything you put on your head : 被る (kaburu)
> glasses: かける (kakeru)
> bra, watch, accessories : する (suru)


With some knowledge on Kanji and Japanese, let me try to explain these words:

履く (haku): 
1. Kanji-wise, the character 履 originally means to wear shoes to work, and came to mean just "shoe". So it's meaning it's quite literal and doesn't have other connotations since the character was created, unless you dig deep into the past where the character wasn't created (probably far back than old Chinese) yet and focus on how the sound of this character "lu3" is connected with other meanings. This is a field that hasn't been studied very thoroughly, and it's hard to make any assumptions.
2. Kana-wise, the sound _haku_ has other meanings: 吐く (to vomit), 掃く (to sweep), 捌く ((water)to flow in one place). I assume _haku_ has to do with the act of _sweeping back and forth on the floor,_ just like how vomits sweep the ground, or how water flows, or how the shoes or long skirts swing back and forth on the ground when you walk in them.

被る (kaburu):
1. Kanji-wise, 被(bei4)＝衣(clothes)+皮(pi2)(skin), which means certain covers made from the skin of wild animals. Later, the "made from the skin" part is gone (because you can now make _bed cover_s with synthetic materials), and other meanings such as "_to cover_" and "_to receive act_" emerged.
It is historically phonetically connected to 皮(pi2)(skin), 披(pi1)(to cover up), 疲(pi2)(worn out(the appearance(skin) looks sick)), 波(buo1)(wave (the surface wrinkle of the water)), 坡(slope(the surface of the earth)), etc. Through its phonetical cognates, I guess the underlining phonetic root means_* surface.*_
2. Kana-wise, 被る also means to _cover_.

かける (kakeru):
It also means _to hang_, like how you hang the glasses between your ears.

する (suru):
It means _to do_.


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## twopolar

in indonesia, there are many word to use. 

formal language
Mengenakan = wear (dia mengenakan baju biru = he wear blue shirt)
menggunakan = use / wear (dia menggunakan baju biru = he use blue shirt)
memakai = use / wear (dia memakai baju biru = he wear blue shirt)

non formal language
pakai (dia pakai baju biru = he wear blue shirt)

its all the same, depend on which one u like to use.


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## DaylightDelight

DrChen said:


> DaylightDelight, I understand that you chose to make it succinct, but it is such a fascinating side of the Japanese language (one among many), so I'd like to tell everybody about how varied the terms for "wear" are in Japanese.


Okay, since you seem to like challenges/complications, I'll try to give you some.


DrChen said:


> shoes, socks, pants, skirts, anything you "put on" from the bottom : 履く (haku)


We distinguish something we wear on our feet (履く) and on our lower body (穿く), although both are pronounced [haku].
The meaning of 履く is as Messquito's explanation in his #12 and is used for shoes, boots, sandals, etc.
穿く uses the same character as Chinese (as mentioned in Messquito's OP), but we use it only for pants, skirts, leggings, etc.
To make the matter still more complicated, both 履く and 穿く are used for socks; some dictionaries suggest one way and others suggest the other.


DrChen said:


> bra, watch, accessories : する (suru)


For these items, 着ける [tsukeru] is also acceptable.  This usage is more true to the original meaning ("to attach") of the character 着.


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## Messquito

In Arabic it's  ارتدى (irtadaa), the VIII form (resultative) of the verb root "r-t-y", which seems to mean "fall".
So I guess it's related to the action of "falling into your clothes"?


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## spindlemoss

The Welsh verbnoun *gwisgo *"wear, put on" comes from the noun *gwisg* "dress, clothing", which is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European _*wes-_, which is where English _wear_ and Latin _vestis_ also come from.


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## Nino83

Italian: _indossare_ from _in_ (in) + _dosso < dorsum_ (back, the area from the head to the bottom), in other words to put something on the back, _mettere qualcosa sul dorso_.


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## KalAlbè

Haitian Creole: _*Mete*_ to put (on)


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## Testing1234567

French: *porter* (to carry/bring) or *mettre* (to put)


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## Ectab

Messquito said:


> In Arabic it's  ارتدى (irtadaa), the VIII form (resultative) of the verb root "r-t-y", which seems to mean "fall".
> So I guess it's related to the action of "falling into your clothes"?


We also have لبس (labisa) root l-b-s means to cover, to be obsecure.

and ارتدى has the root r-d-y means to fall, to die


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## Mahaodeh

Messquito said:


> In Arabic it's ارتدى (irtadaa), the VIII form (resultative) of the verb root "r-t-y", which seems to mean "fall".
> So I guess it's related to the action of "falling into your clothes"?



Actually, the verb ارتدى was derived from the noun رداء = robe or large cover. The root is r-d-y, which has several meanings, one of which is to fall, one is to die, and another is to cover! So I guess how it came about is obvious.

Having said that, the verb ارتدى is MSA, it's neither used in Classical Arabic nor in dialects, where the verb لبس = which literally means, to wear is used.


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## ThomasK

I think there are two basic/underlying meanings: something like cover but also something like "carry". The Dutch/ German _dragen/tragen_ are not used for clothes specifically; we _dragen_ bags, Luggage, something on the head, etc.

But let us not mix up : "to wear" (static) and "to put on" (change)...


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