bathing-suit

The word is a transparent 19th-century English compound. Its first element, 'bathing', derives from the Old English word for washing, which is rooted in the Proto-Germanic 'baþą'. The second element, 'suit', entered English via French from Latin 'sequi' (to follow), originally denoting things that follow together or form a set. The compound's logic is perfectly literal: a 'bathing suit' is a set of garments specifically designed for the activity of bathing or swimming. It directly replaced earlier terms like 'bathing costume', illustrating a trend towards simpler, more functional compound nouns in modern English.

Structure: bath (to wash) + ing (verbal noun suffix) + suit (set of garments) - bath: From Old English 'bæð' (act of washing, immersion in water), of Germanic origin. Functions as the core semantic root. - ing: From Old English '-ung', '-ing', a suffix forming verbal nouns. Functions to create the noun 'bathing' from the verb 'bathe'. - suit: From Anglo-Norman French 'siwte', from a feminine past participle of a Romance verb meaning 'to follow', from Latin 'sequi'. In this compound, it functions to mean 'a set of garments'.