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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

sartorial

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

Arts, Education, Language Courses, Literature

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2026

⏱️ 2 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

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.

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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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