sartorial
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 6 February 2026
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 6, 2026 is:
sartorial • \sahr-TOR-ee-ul\ • adjective
Sartorial broadly means “of or relating to clothes,” but it often more specifically means “of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes.”
// This particular English teacher is known both for engaging students deeply in literature and for her eccentric sartorial tastes.
Examples:
“As always, the Princess’s sartorial elegance shone through this year, with her championing British designers, turning to old favourites and adorning treasures she’s been gifted from the royal family over the years.” — Hello! Magazine (UK), 30 Dec. 2025
Did you know?
Study the seams in the word sartorial and you’ll find the common adjective suffix -ial and sartor, a Medieval Latin noun meaning “tailor.” (Sartor comes ultimately from Latin sarcire, “to mend.”) Sartorial has bedecked the English language since the early decades of the 19th century as a word describing things relating to clothes and to tailors, while sartor, though never fully adopted into the language, has also seen occasional use as a synonym for tailor. A third word shares the same root: sartorius (plural sartorii) refers to the longest muscle in the human body. Crossing the front of the thigh obliquely, it assists in rotating the leg to the cross-legged position in which the knees are spread wide apart—and in which tailors have traditionally sat.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for February 6th. |
| 0:11.6 | Today's word is Sartorial, spelled Sartorial, Sartorial is an adjective. Sartorial is an adjective. |
| 0:20.7 | It broadly means of or relating to clothes, but it often more |
| 0:25.2 | specifically means of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes. Here's the word used in a sentence |
| 0:32.1 | from Hello magazine. As always, the princess's sartorial elegance shone through this year, with her championing |
| 0:40.5 | British designers, turning to old favorites, and adorning treasures she's been gifted from the |
| 0:46.5 | royal family over the years. |
| 0:49.7 | Study the seams in the word sartorial, and you'll find the common adjective suffix I-A-L and Sartor, |
| 0:59.3 | a medieval Latin noun meaning tailor. Sartor comes ultimately from the Latin word Sarkire, |
| 1:06.7 | meaning to mend. Sartorial has bedecked the English language since the early decades of the |
| 1:12.7 | 19th century as a word describing things relating to clothes and to tailors, while Sartor, though never |
| 1:20.8 | fully adopted into the language, has also seen occasional use as a synonym for tailor. |
| 1:27.3 | A third word shares the same root, |
| 1:30.3 | Sartorius, with the plural Sartorii, referring to the longest muscle in the human body. |
| 1:37.6 | Crossing the front of the thigh obliquely, it assists in rotating the leg to the cross-legged position |
| 1:43.3 | in which the knees are spread wide apart |
| 1:46.3 | and in which tailors have traditionally sat. |
| 1:50.1 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
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