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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

garnish.

To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈɡɑːnɪʃ/Received-Pronunciation[ˈɡɑːnɪʃ]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡäːnɪʃ/Australia[ˈɡäːnɪʃ]Australia
  1. To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish.

  2. To ornament with something placed around it.

    a dish garnished with a sprig/spray of parsley
  3. To furnish; to supply.

    archaic
  4. To fit with fetters; to fetter.

    archaic · slang
  5. To warn by garnishment; to give notice to.

  6. To have (money) set aside by court order (particularly for the payment of alleged debts); to garnishee.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English garnysshen, from Old French garniss-, stem of certain forms of the verb garnir, guarnir, warnir (“to provide, furnish, avert, defend, warn, fortify, garnish”), from a conflation of Old Frankish *warnijan (“to refuse, deny”) and *warnōn (“warn, protect, prepare, beware, guard oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *warnijaną (“to worry, care, heed”) and Proto-Germanic *warnōną (“to warn”); both from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to defend, protect, cover”). Cognate with Old English wiernan (“to withhold, be sparing of, deny, refuse, reject, decline, forbid, prevent from, avert”) and warnian (“to warn, caution, take warning, take heed, guard oneself against, deny”). More at warn.

noun/ˈɡɑːnɪʃ/Received-Pronunciation[ˈɡɑːnɪʃ]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡäːnɪʃ/Australia[ˈɡäːnɪʃ]Australia
  1. A set of dishes, often pewter, containing a dozen pieces of several types.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Pewter vessels in general.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Something added for embellishment.

    countable · uncountable
  4. Clothes; garments, especially when showy or decorative.

    countable · uncountable
  5. Something set round or upon a dish as an embellishment.

    countable · uncountable
  6. Fetters.

    countable · obsolete · slang · uncountable
  7. A fee; specifically, in English jails, formerly an unauthorized fee demanded from a newcomer by the older prisoners.

    historical · slang · uncountable
  8. Cash.

    US · countable · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English garnysshen, from Old French garniss-, stem of certain forms of the verb garnir, guarnir, warnir (“to provide, furnish, avert, defend, warn, fortify, garnish”), from a conflation of Old Frankish *warnijan (“to refuse, deny”) and *warnōn (“warn, protect, prepare, beware, guard oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *warnijaną (“to worry, care, heed”) and Proto-Germanic *warnōną (“to warn”); both from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to defend, protect, cover”). Cognate with Old English wiernan (“to withhold, be sparing of, deny, refuse, reject, decline, forbid, prevent from, avert”) and warnian (“to warn, caution, take warning, take heed, guard oneself against, deny”). More at warn.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.