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Sunday, 8 September 2019

Sunday Rest: bradigan. Word Not To Use Today.

On 29 August, the fashion journalist Caroline Leaper asked rather nervously if it would be acceptable to call Katie Holmes' latest outfit of a knitted cardigan worn over a matching knitted bra either a bra-digan or a bradigan.

I would say the answer to that question is no.

Sunday Rest: bradigan. The word bra is short for brassiรจre, and in the 1600s in France this meant bodice. Before that, braciere was Old French for a cover for the arm, from braz, arm. The -digan part of bradigan comes from Cardigan, a town in Wales, which gave the 7th Earl of Cardigan, who liked a nice warm button-up woolly, his title.

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