fashion

English

Alternative forms

• fascion (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English facioun, from Anglo-Norman fechoun (compare Jersey Norman faichon), variant of Old French faceon, fazon, façon (“fashion, form, make, outward appearance”), from Latin factiō (“a making”), from faciō (“do, make”); see fact. Doublet of faction.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfæʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æʃən

Noun

fashion (countable and uncountable, plural fashions)

1. (countable) A current (constantly changing) trend, favored for frivolous rather than practical, logical, or intellectual reasons.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.

2. (uncountable) Popular trends, especially in clothing; the industry that designs clothing and sometimes other related items.

   Check out the latest in fashion.

   He had always been interested in fashion, so he decided to take a sewing class.

   • 1693, [John Locke], “§208”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:

     the innocent diversions in fashion

   • 1874-1896, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology Part IV

     As now existing, fashion is a form of social regulation analogous to constitutional government as a form of political regulation.

3. (countable) A style or manner in which something is done.
   • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter V, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

     When it had advanced from the wood, it hopped much after the fashion of a kangaroo, using its hind feet and tail to propel it, and when it stood erect, it sat upon its tail.

   • 2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     It shell-shocked the home crowd, who quickly demanded a response, which came midway through the half and in emphatic fashion.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Ophelia: My lord, he hath importuned me with love in honourable fashion.
     Lord Polonius: Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.

4. The make or form of anything; the style, shape, appearance, or mode of structure; pattern, model; workmanship; execution.

   the fashion of the ark, of a coat, of a house, of an altar, etc.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 9:29:

     The fashion of his countenance was altered.

   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:

     I do not like the fashion of your garments.

5. (dated) Polite, fashionable, or genteel life; social position; good breeding.

   men of fashion

Derived terms

terms derived from the noun “fashion”

• after a fashion
• antifashion
• antifashionable
• cyberfashion
• doggy fashion
• fashionable
• fashionably
• fashion collection
• fashion-conscious
• fashion contest
• fashion design
• fashion designer
• fashion doll
• fashionese
• fashion-forward
• fashion house
• fashionist
• fashionista
• fashionless
• fashion model
• fashionmonger
• fashion parade
• fashion piece
• fashion plate
• fashion police
• fashion sense
• fashion show
• fashion statement
• fashion tape
• fashion victim
• fashionwear
• fashion week
• fashionwise
• fashiony
• fast-fashion
• fast fashion
• fatshion
• high fashion
• in fashion
• like it's going out of fashion
• Lolita fashion
• lolita fashion
• new-fashioned
• nonfashion
• old-fashion
• old-fashioned
• out of fashion
• parrot fashion
• retrofashion
• shipshape and Bristol fashion
• slave to fashion
• slow fashion
• so fashion
• tailor-fashion
• trashion
• ultra-fast fashion
• woman fashion
• woman-fashion

 

Related terms

terms etymologically related to the noun “fashion”

• fact
• faction
• factional
• factor
• factorial
• factory

 

Descendants

• Bislama: fasin
• → Bengali: ফ্যাশন (phêśon)
• → Burmese: ဖက်ရှင် (hpakhrang)
• → Hindi: फ़ैशन (faiśan)
• → Irish: faisean
• → Japanese: ファッション (fasshon)
• → Korean: 패션 (paesyeon)
• → Malay: fesyen
  • Indonesian: fesyen
• → Portuguese: fashion
• → Scottish Gaelic: fasan (perhaps)
• → Sotho: feshene
• → Spanish: fashion
• → Thai: แฟชั่น (fɛɛ-chân)
• → Urdu: فیشن (faiśan)
• → Welsh: ffasiwn

Translations

current (constantly changing) trend, favored for frivolous rather than practical, logical, or intellectual reasons

• Afrikaans: mode
• Albanian: modë f
• Arabic: مُودَة f (mōda), مُوضَة f (mūḍa, mōḍa)

  Egyptian Arabic: موضة f (mōḍa), مودة f (mōda)

  Gulf Arabic: موضة f (mūḍa)

• Armenian: նորաձեւություն (hy) (norajewutʻyun), մոդա (hy) (moda)
• Assamese: ধুন (dhun), ফেছন (pheson)
• Azerbaijani: dəb, moda
• Belarusian: мо́да f (móda)
• Bengali: রেওয়াজ (bn) (reōẇaj)
• Bulgarian: мо́да (bg) f (móda)
• Burmese: ဖက်ရှင် (my) (hpakhrang)
• Carpathian Rusyn: мо́да f (móda)
• Catalan: moda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 時興／时兴 (si⁴ hing¹)

  Hokkien: 時式／时式 (sî-sek)

  Mandarin: 時裝／时装 (zh) (shízhuāng), 時尚／时尚 (zh) (shíshàng), 時興／时兴 (zh) (shíxīng)

• Crimean Tatar: mot, moda
• Czech: móda (cs) f
• Danish: mode c
• Dutch: mode (nl)
• Esperanto: modo (eo)
• Estonian: mood (et)
• Faroese: móti m
• Finnish: muoti (fi)
• French: mode (fr) f, vogue (fr) f
• Galician: moda (gl) f
• Georgian: მოდა (moda)
• German: Mode (de) f
• Greek: μόδα (el) f (móda), νεωτερισμός (el) n (neoterismós), συρμός (el) m (syrmós)
• Hebrew: אָופְנָה (he) (ofná)
• Hindi: फ़ैशन m (faiśan)
• Hungarian: divat (hu), módi (hu)
• Icelandic: tíska (is) f
• Ido: enmoda
• Indonesian: mode (id)
• Irish: faisean m
• Italian: moda (it) f, voga (it) f
• Japanese: 流行り (ja) (はやり, hayari), 流行 (ja) (りゅうこう, ryūkō), ファッション (ja) (fasshon)
• Kazakh: сән (sän), мода (moda)
• Khmer: ម៉ូត (km) (mout)
• Korean: 패션 (ko) (paesyeon), 유행(流行) (ko) (yuhaeng), 류행 (ko) (ryuhaeng) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مۆدە (mode)

• Kyrgyz: мода (moda)
• Lao: ແຟຊັ້ນ (fǣ san), ແບບເສື້ອ (bǣp sư̄a)
• Latvian: mode f
• Lithuanian: mada f
• Macedonian: мода f (moda)
• Malay: fesyen (ms)
• Mongolian: моод (mn) (mood), загвар (mn) (zagvar)
• Norman: mode f
• Norwegian: mote m
• Pashto: مود m (mod), موډ m (moḍ)
• Persian: مد (fa) (mod)
• Polish: moda (pl) f
• Portuguese: moda (pt) f
• Romanian: modă (ro) f
• Russian: мо́да (ru) f (móda)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мода f

  Roman: moda (sh) f

• Sinhalese: විලාසිතා (wilāsitā)
• Slovak: móda f
• Slovene: moda (sl) f
• Sotho: feshene
• Southern Altai: чӱм (čüm)
• Spanish: moda (es) f
• Swedish: mode (sv) n
• Tagalog: moda (tl)
• Tajik: муд (mud), мод (tg) (mod), мӯд (müd)
• Thai: แฟชั่น (th) (fɛɛ-chân)
• Turkish: moda (tr)
• Turkmen: moda, biçim (tk)
• Ukrainian: мо́да f (móda)
• Urdu: فیشن m (faiśan)
• Uyghur: مودا (moda)
• Uzbek: moda (uz)
• Vietnamese: thời trang (vi) (時裝), mốt (vi)
• Welsh: ffasiwn m
• Yiddish: מאָדע f (mode)

style, or manner, in which to do something

• Afrikaans: mode, styl (af)
• Assamese: ঢং (dhoṅ)
• Bulgarian: начин (bg) m (način), маниер (bg) m (manier)
• Burmese: fesyen (fesyen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 方式 (zh) (fāngshì)

• Estonian: stiil, komme, mood (et)
• Finnish: tapa (fi)
• French: façon (fr) f
• German: Stil (de) m

  Alemannic German: Fasung f

• Greek: μέθοδος (el) f (méthodos), τρόπος (el) m (trópos)

  Ancient: τρόπος m (trópos)

• Italian: stile (it), maniera (it), modo (it)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: چەشن (çeşn)

• Malay: fesyen (ms)
• Maori: tāera, pēheatanga
• Plautdietsch: Tracht f
• Polish: styl (pl) m, sposób (pl) m
• Portuguese: maneira (pt) f, modo (pt) m, jeito (pt) m
• Romanian: manieră (ro) f, mod (ro) n
• Russian: мане́ра (ru) f (manéra), стиль (ru) m (stilʹ), спо́соб (ru) m (spósob), фасо́н (ru) m (fasón) (esp. clothes or footwear)
• Sotho: feshene
• Spanish: manera (es) f, modo (es) m
• Swedish: stil (sv) c, sätt (sv) n, fason (sv) c, skick (sv) n
• Turkish: tarz (tr)

popular trends

• Afrikaans: mode
• Catalan: moda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 時尚／时尚 (zh) (shíshàng)

• Crimean Tatar: mot
• Esperanto: fasono, modo (eo)
• Estonian: mood (et)
• Finnish: muoti (fi), trendi (fi), muoti-ilmiö
• Galician: moda (gl) f
• German: Mode (de) f
• Greek: μόδα (el) f (móda)
• Hungarian: divat (hu), módi (hu)
• Ido: modo (io)
• Indonesian: mode (id), fesyen (colloquial)
• Italian: tendenza (it)
• Maori: tāera
• Norwegian: mote m
• Polish: moda (pl) f
• Portuguese: moda (pt) f
• Romanian: modă (ro) f
• Serbo-Croatian: moda (sh) f
• Sotho: feshene
• Spanish: moda (es) f
• Swedish: mode (sv) n
• Tagalog: moda (tl)
• Welsh: ffasiwn m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} moda (it) f
• Malayalam: ^{(please verify)} പരിഷ്കാരം (ml) (pariṣkāraṁ) (1,2,3)

Verb

fashion (third-person singular simple present fashions, present participle fashioning, simple past and past participle fashioned)

1. To make, build or construct, especially in a crude or improvised way.
   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IX

     I have three gourds which I fill with water and take back to my cave against the long nights. I have fashioned a spear and a bow and arrow, that I may conserve my ammunition, which is running low.

   • 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 235b:

     […] a device fashioned by arguments against that kind of prey.

2. (dated) To make in a standard manner; to work.
   • 1691, [John Locke], Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money. […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], published 1692, →OCLC:

     Fashioned plate sells for more than its weight.

3. (dated) To fit, adapt, or accommodate to.
   • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

     Laws ought to be fashioned unto the manners and conditions of the people.

4. (obsolete) To forge or counterfeit.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit; All with me's meet that I can fashion feet.

Derived terms

• disfashion
• misfashion
• newfashion
• refashion
• fashioning needle
• unfashioned

Translations

to make, build or construct

• Bulgarian: оформям (oformjam)
• Dutch: maken (nl)
• French: façonner (fr)
• German: fertigen (de), anfertigen (de)
• Greek: διαμορφώνω (el) (diamorfóno), πλάθω (el) (plátho)

  Ancient: τεύχω (teúkhō)

• Italian: fabbricare (it)
• Latin: formō (la)
• Maori: auaha
• Portuguese: produzir (pt), fazer (pt), montar (pt), confeccionar (pt), fabricar (pt)
• Tocharian B: tsik-

Further reading

• “fashion”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “fashion”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Chinese

Etymology

From English fashion. Doublet of 花臣.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): fe¹ seon⁴

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: fe¹ seon⁴
    • Yale: fē sèuhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: fe¹ soen⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: fé¹ sên⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fɛː⁵⁵ sɵn²¹/

Adjective

fashion

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, Taiwanese Mandarin) fashionable

Noun

fashion

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) fashion (trend)

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English fashion. Doublet of facção and feição.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛ.ʃõ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛ.ʃɐn/

Adjective

fashion (invariable)

1. (slang) fashionable, trendy

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English fashion. Doublet of facción.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaʃjon/ [ˈfa.ʃjõn]
• Rhymes: -aʃjon
• Syllabification: fa‧shion

Adjective

fashion (invariable)

1. fashionable, trendy

Derived terms

• fashionista

 

Noun

fashion m (plural fashions or fashion)

1. fashion

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.