entry
embroider
/ɪmˈbrɔɪdər/decorate fabric with ornamental needlework
From Anglo-French, ultimately Germanic embroid (to decorate with stitching).
from Proto-Germanic *bruzdajan. Spelling with -oi- is
from Anglo-French enbrouder
from Middle English embrouderen, frequentative of embrouden (“to decorate, embroider”), equivalent to embroid + -er....
Word Ancestry
from Proto-Germanic *bruzdajan. Spelling with -oi- is
from Anglo-French enbrouder
from Middle English embrouderen, frequentative of embrouden (“to decorate, embroider”), equivalent to embroid + -er....
The word arrived in English in the late 14th century wearing a French outfit: Anglo-French enbrouder, with en- meaning “in” and a verb for ornamental stitching. Its deeper ancestry is less tidy than the stitches it describes. Etymonline traces that verb to reconstructed Proto-Germanic *bruzdajan, while Wiktionary gives competing Germanic pathways and warns that the exact route is uncertain. Around 1600, English switched to the -oi- spelling, perhaps nudged by broiden, an irregular past participle of braid. So even the word for careful decoration has a history with a loose thread.
The Story
The word arrived in English in the late 14th century wearing a French outfit: Anglo-French enbrouder, with en- meaning “in” and a verb for ornamental stitching. Its deeper ancestry is less tidy than the stitches it describes. Etymonline traces that verb to reconstructed Proto-Germanic *bruzdajan, while Wiktionary gives competing Germanic pathways and warns that the exact route is uncertain. Around 1600, English switched to the -oi- spelling, perhaps nudged by broiden, an irregular past participle of braid. So even the word for careful decoration has a history with a loose thread.
Kin & Kindred
From 'embroid'·to decorate with stitching
Derived Terms
English words from this root