Etymograph

English

paillette

Paillette comes from French paillette ‘sequin’, from paille ‘straw’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘flour, dust’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-1‘flour, dust’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalea1‘chaff’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400paille1
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentpaille2‘straw’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentpaillette2‘sequin’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2006paillette2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French paille
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English paillette
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day: “A plump and energetic chanteuse of some ten summers,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-Wiktionary, French paille‘flour, dust’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaleaWiktionary, French paille‘chaff’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pailleWiktionary, French paille
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentpailleWiktionary, English paillette‘straw’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentpailletteWiktionary, English paillette‘sequin’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2006pailletteWiktionary, English paillette. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day: “A plump and energetic chanteuse of some ten summers,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘flour, dust’

felt, simply, film, simple, push, powder, fold, complain, pulse, filter, repeal, flaw, pillow, compulsive, expel, repel, propel, pollen, palate, pelt, palladium, palpable, peloton, palatable, wallow, pall, polemic, tuple, peplum, palatal, pulver, pollinate, muffle, apoplexy, palp, interpolate, pillion, 62 more

through Old French paille

pallet, 2 more

Today it means

noun A sequin or spangle.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “paillette”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for French paille. 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 *pel- / paillette

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