English
décolletage
Décolletage comes from French décolletage ‘neckline, décolletage’, from collet ‘collar’, and ultimately from Latin collum ‘the neck or throat’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollum‘the neck or throat’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400col‘neck’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘the neck’
- Middle French, derivedc. 1400–1600collet
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘collar’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentdécolleter‘to reveal the neck or neckline’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentdécolletage‘neckline, décolletage’
- Englishearliest quotation 2011same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollum‘the neck or throat’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400col‘neck’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘the neck’
- Middle French, derivedc. 1400–1600collet
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘collar’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentdécolleter‘to reveal the neck or neckline’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentdécolletage‘neckline, décolletage’
- Englishearliest quotation 2011same form
Earliest quotation: 2011, Stephen King, New York: Scribner: “I visualized businessmen trying to see the tops of…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-
cycle, pole, polar, loaf, bazaar, columnist, pulley, accolade, bucolic, 8 more
through Latin collum ‘the neck or throat’
through Old French col ‘neck’
through Middle French collet
Today it means
noun A low neckline on a woman's dress, especially one that reveals or emphasizes her cleavage.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin collum / décolletage