manteau

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French manteau (“mantle”). In the Iranian context, borrowed from Persian مانتو (mânto), originating in the Qajar period. Doublet of mantle and mantel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæntəʊ/
• Rhymes: -æntəʊ

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

manteau (plural manteaus or manteaux)

1. A cloak or gown, especially of a kind popular with women in the 17th and 18th centuries.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Against the Day”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 816:

     Not to mention the need to keep her manteau from becoming a sort of anti-parachute which sought to lift her free of the pavement.

2. A long, loose-fitting coat worn by Iranian Muslim women based off the trenchcoat, originally worn with a square Arabic-style hijab and in plain colours, and often associated with liberal politics.

   Coordinate term: chador

   • 2010, Afshin Molavi, The Soul of Iran: A Nation's Struggle for Freedom, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 91:

     As a result of this politics of personal appearance, Iranians have come to refer to three types of woman, defining their politics by the clothes they wear: the chadory, the manteauy, and the maghna'eh-poosh. […] In contrast, the manteauy woman wears the loose-fitting manteau, often fashionably with a colorful, loosely tied head scarf. She generally supports both political and social reform.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin mantellum, diminutive of mantum. Compare Italian mantello.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑ̃.to/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o
• Homophones: manteaux, mentaux

Noun

manteau m (plural manteaux)

1. coat

   Synonym: pardessus

2. mantle (garment worn by Orthodox bishops)
3. (geology) mantle
4. (biology) mantle (of molluscs)
5. (heraldry) pavilion

Related terms

• mante
• mantelet
• manteau de cheminée
• sous le manteau

Descendants

• → English: manteau, mantua
• → Japanese: マント (manto)
• → Korean: 망토 (mangto)
• → Ottoman Turkish: مانتو (manto)

  > Turkish: manto (inherited)

• → Persian: مانتو (mânto)
• → Romanian: manta, mantou
• → Russian: манто (manto)

Further reading

• “manteau”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.