English
fripper
Fripper comes from French fripier ‘secondhand clothes dealer’, from friper ‘to rumple, fumble, waste’, and ultimately from Old French frepe.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400frepe
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfriper‘to rumple, fumble, waste’next step skipped: French fripe
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentfripier‘secondhand clothes dealer’
- Englishearliest quotation 1605fripper
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400frepe
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfriper‘to rumple, fumble, waste’next step skipped: French fripe
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentfripier‘secondhand clothes dealer’
- Englishearliest quotation 1605fripper
Earliest quotation: 1605, Francis Bacon, The Second Booke: “which Collections are much like a Frippers or Brokers…”
Every English word from Old French frepe
Today it means
noun A dealer in frippery (old clothes).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French frepe / fripper