paraphernalia
pronunciation
How to pronounce paraphernalia in British English:
UK [ˌpærəfəˈneɪliə]
How to pronounce paraphernalia in American English:
US [ˌpærəfɚˈneljə, -fəˈneljə]
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- Noun:
- equipment consisting of miscellaneous articles needed for a particular operation or sport etc.
Word Origin
- paraphernalia
- paraphernalia: [17] In former times, when a woman married her property was divided into two categories: her dowry, which became the property of her husband, and the rest. The legal term for the latter was paraphernalia, which came via medieval Latin from late Latin parapherna, a borrowing from Greek parápherna. And the Greek word in turn was a compound formed from pará ‘beside’ and pherné ‘dowry’. It is a measure of the light in which these remaining odds and ends were viewed that by the early 18th century the term paraphernalia had come to be used dismissively for ‘equipment’ or ‘impedimenta’.
- paraphernalia (n.)
- 1650s, "a woman's property besides her dowry," from Medieval Latin paraphernalia (short for paraphernalia bona "paraphernal goods"), neuter plural of paraphernalis (adj.), from Late Latin parapherna "a woman's property besides her dowry," from Greek parapherna, neuter plural, from para- "beside" (see para- (1)) + pherne "dowry," related to pherein "to carry" (see infer). Meaning "equipment, apparatus" is first attested 1791, from notion of odds and ends.
Example
- 1. Many companies specialise in producing cheap knock-offs of juicy couture or barcelona football club paraphernalia .
- 2. All this may be a boon to producers of purification paraphernalia , but it bodes poorly for the credibility of the government .