Pilch

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A soft woollen or flannel wrapper placed around an infant ; a heavy outer garment made of leather or animal skin
2. An old-fashioned swaddling cloth or flannel covering for a baby ; a thick outer covering of leather or fur worn for warmth
3. A snug flannel wrap used to bundle up a newborn ; a rough garment cut from hide or fur, worn over other clothing

Etymology: A "pilch" is a garment of animal skin, and its history runs back to the Latin word for fur. Old English borrowed it as "pylċe" or "pyleċe" from Late Latin "pellicia," a noun built from "pellis," meaning skin or hide. The same Latin root produced the French "pelisse," a fur-lined cloak, so the two words are doublets: one came into English through Old English, the other later from French. The English word began as a plain item of clothing, a coat or wrap made from skins, and it was tied to the everyday business of wearing animal hides before fur fashions grew elaborate. Its Latin source is also the ancestor of the English "pelt," the skin of a dead animal, which shows that the sense of the word was always close to the hide itself.