mannequin
UK[ˈmæn.ɪ.kɪn]US[ˈmæn.ə.kɪn]
n
a model of the human body, used for displaying clothes in a shop or for teaching art or medicine
n
a person employed by a designer or store to wear and display new clothes; a fashion model
Etymology
The word 'mannequin' entered English in the early 18th century from French, where it meant 'an artist's jointed model'. The French term was itself borrowed from the Dutch 'manneken', a diminutive of 'man', meaning 'little man'. This Dutch root traces back to Proto-Germanic 'mann-', meaning 'person'. The semantic journey reflects a shift from a general term for a small human figure to a specialized dummy used for display or artistic study, capturing the human form in miniature. Its modern use in fashion, referring to both inanimate dummies and live models, developed from this core concept of a human simulacrum.
Analysis
The word is a loanword adopted as a single unit into English. Its components are not productively used as separate morphemes in modern English word formation.
Examples
The new dress was displayed on a mannequin in the store window.
She worked as a mannequin for a famous Parisian couturier in the 1960s.
The art students practiced drawing the human form using a wooden mannequin.