lingerie
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
women's underwear or nightclothes, often made of lace or silk.
women's undergarments or nightwear, particularly those designed for aesthetic appeal or made from delicate fabrics. Uncountable in usage.
Simple“The shop on the corner sells expensive silk lingerie and nightgowns.”
In context“The boutique specialises in handmade lace lingerie, catering to a luxury market that values traditional craftsmanship over mass-produced garments.”
Synonyms - 02 C2 Proficiency
an old word for items made of linen, such as shirts or sheets.
linen goods collectively, including underclothing and household linens. This sense is largely obsolete in modern general-service English.
Simple“In the old inventory, the word lingerie referred to all the family's linen sheets.”
In context“Historical records from the nineteenth century often use the term lingerie to describe the entire stock of a linen draper's shop.”
UsageUsually found in historical texts or when discussing the etymology of the modern word.
Synonyms
Borrowed from French lingerie (“linen closet”). The irregular pronunciation is a hyperforeignism; it may derive from the frequent shift of /ɛ̃/ (which is this word's first vowel in standard French) toward /ɑ̃/ or [æ̃] in European French, which also tends to be drifted towards /ɔ̃/.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.