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hab·er·dash·er

(hăbər-dăsh′ər)

1. A dealer in men's furnishings.

2. Chiefly British A dealer in sewing notions and small wares.

[Middle English, dealer in small wares, from haberdash, small wares (if haberdash is not a back-formation from haberdasher), from or akin to Anglo-Norman haberdasher, dealer in small wares, and hapertas, haberdashe, small wares, all ultimately of unknown origin.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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