Etymograph

English

attire

Attire comes from Old French atirier ‘to equip’, from Latin ad ‘to, towards’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd ‘near, at’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éd1‘near, at’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ad1‘toward, to, on, up to, for’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEad2‘to, towards’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400atirier3‘to equip’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500atyren3
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1887attire3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin ad
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin ad-
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English attire
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1887, Miller Christy: “The latter sign, however, may have some heraldic significance,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂édWiktionary, Latin ad‘near, at’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*adWiktionary, Latin ad‘toward, to, on, up to, for’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEadWiktionary, Latin ad-‘to, towards’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400atirierWiktionary, English attire‘to equip’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500atyrenWiktionary, English attire
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1887attireWiktionary, English attire. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1887, Miller Christy: “The latter sign, however, may have some heraldic significance,…”

The story

The noun is from Middle English atir, from the verb.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd ‘near, at’

at, 16 more

through Proto-Italic *ad ‘toward, to, on, up to, for’

appointee, 16 more

through Latin ad ‘to, towards’

ad, agree, aim, appoint, await, adage, accolade, amortization, affix, affine, adroit, alliteration, adulation, adobo, apportion, apres, 20 more

Today it means

noun One's dress; what one wears; one's clothes.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “attire”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin ad, Latin ad-. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd / attire

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