The word 'trousseau' entered English in the early 19th century directly from French, where it means "a little bundle." The French term is a diminutive form of 'trousse,' which historically referred to a bundle or a pack. This, in turn, derives from the Old French verb 'torser' or 'trusser,' meaning "to pack or bundle up," which has its roots in the Late Latin 'torsare,' a frequentative form of 'torquere' meaning "to twist." The conceptual journey is from the general act of twisting and bundling possessions into a pack, to the specific, traditional bundle of personal items and household goods a bride would assemble and bring to her new marital home.

This word is a loanword from French, borrowed as a single lexical unit. It is not productively segmented using English morphemes.