Gown
nounA long, loose flowing garment, such as a formal dress, a robe worn for ceremonies, or a protective covering used in hospitals.
How to spell gown
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce gown
What does gown mean?
- nounA long, loose flowing garment, such as a formal dress, a robe worn for ceremonies, or a protective covering used in hospitals.
Gown in a sentence
-
She wore a floor-length silk gown to the awards dinner.
-
The surgeon pulled on a sterile gown before the operation.
Where does gown come from?
Language of origin: Latin
Gown traces back to the Late Latin word gunna, which referred to a garment made of fur or hide, possibly worn for warmth. The word passed into Old French as goune, meaning a long, loose robe, and English borrowed it in the 1300s. From the start it described a flowing outer garment, and over time it came to cover several specialised meanings: the formal robe of a judge or academic, the elegant dress worn to a ball, and later the practical garments used in hospitals and surgery. The Late Latin gunna may itself be of Celtic origin, though its earliest source is not certain. Because the word is short and follows the regular 'ow' spelling seen in 'down' and 'town', it rarely causes spelling trouble.
How the word is built
- gown (single root, from Old French goune: a long garment)
Fix your spelling for good.
Spelling Garden finds the words you personally get wrong, plants them in a garden, and brings each one back just before you would have forgotten it.
Just five minutes a day is all it takes to fix your spelling.