fashion
Meaning
A popular style of clothes, hair, etc. at a particular time
The business of making and selling clothes in new styles
A manner or way of doing something
Usage
Long skirts have come back into fashion.
She works in the fashion industry.
He solved the problem in a very unusual fashion.
Etymology
The word 'fashion' entered English in the 14th century from Anglo-French and Old French 'façon', meaning 'a making, a form, manner'. This French term derived from Latin 'factionem', the accusative of 'factio', meaning 'a making or doing', which itself comes from the verb 'facere', 'to make or do'. The semantic journey is clear: from the general concept of 'making' or 'the way something is made', the meaning narrowed in French and English to signify the prevailing style or manner in which things, especially clothing, are made at a given time. This evolution reflects how a broad term for creation became specialized to denote the culturally specific and temporal forms of creation.
Analysis
The word is a simplex loanword from French. Its core morpheme 'fashion' is not productively segmented in modern English.