Onesie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A single-piece garment typically designed for infants covering the torso and sometimes the limbs ; a one-piece outfit often made from soft fabric intended for comfort or sleepwear ; a connected clothing item worn mainly by babies to provide ease of dressing and warmth without separate parts
2. A one-piece garment that covers a child's body usually from shoulder to crotch ; a soft, comfortable outfit for babies often used as sleepwear or casual wear ; an all-in-one suit designed for infants to simplify dressing and keep them cozy
3. A continuous piece of clothing enclosing the upper body and sometimes legs, commonly worn by infants ; a simple, seamless outfit for comfort and easy dressing ; baby apparel designed to cover the torso and snap at the crotch for convenience

Etymology: The one-piece garment that now seems so ordinary began as a brand name. Gerber Childrenswear marketed its infant suits under the name "Onesies," and the trademark was eventually genericized, meaning the name lost its status as a brand and became a common word for the garment itself. Along the way, the name was reanalysed as a plural, so the singular "onesie" was back-formed from it. The word's underlying sense is simple. It is built from "one," describing a single piece of clothing that covers the body in one go, with "-sie" added as a playful, diminutive-style ending of the kind familiar from brand names and childish speech. Nothing in the word's history points to a deeper story; its making was commercial, and its meaning stayed close to that original idea of one garment instead of several.

Synonyms: romper, bodysuit, infant suit