It's the word of the day for June 8th.
Today's word is accoutrement, spelled A-C-C-O-U-T-R-E-M-E-N-T.
Accoutrement is a noun.
An accoutrement is a piece of clothing or equipment that is used in a particular place or for a particular activity.
In military contexts, accoutrement refers specifically to a soldier's outfit.
The word can also refer to an identifying and often superficial characteristic or device.
Accoutrement in any of its uses is often pluralized.
Here's a word used in a sentence from the Commercial Dispatch of Columbus, Mississippi.
"From the spectacularly colorful parade of flags to the customary dress and cultural accoutrements of the nations,
we see just how rich, varied,
and wonderful are the backgrounds of these students who have traveled far to study among us." Accoutrement
and its rarer relative, accouter, a verb meaning to provide with equipment or furnishings
or to outfit, have been appearing in English texts since the 16th century.
Today, both words have variant spellings.
Accoutrement could be spelled with an ER rather than an RE, and the pair's French ancestor, accoutrer,
descends from an Old French word meaning "to put in place." It may ultimately trace back to the Latin word consuere,
meaning "to sew together." Some etymological stitching is visible in another English word,
couture, a word referring to the business of making fashionable clothes,
as well as to the clothes themselves, is a direct French borrowing that ultimately descends from consuere.
With your Word of the Day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.