camail

English

Etymology

Borrowed in the late 1600s from French camail, from Old Occitan capmalh.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈmeɪl/, /ˈkæm.eɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl

Noun

camail (plural camails)

1. (historical) A piece of chainmail worn to protect the neck and shoulders, replacing the whole-head coif.

   Synonym: aventail

   • 1995, William W. Kibler, Medieval France: An Encyclopedia, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 126:

     […] the hood was increasingly replaced with a mail curtain (the camail or aventail) suspended from the outside of the bascinet, and the bascinet thus augmented gradually replaced the clumsy great helm as the principal defense […]

2. (historical) An ecclesiastical ornament worn by bishops.

Derived terms

• camailed

Anagrams

• Lamica, Milaca, amical, calami, lamaic

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French camail, a borrowing from Old Occitan capmalh.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.maj/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

camail m (plural camails)

1. camail, capuchin (hood)

Further reading

• “camail”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.