Word
Of
The
Day
sartorial
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.
See the entry >
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.