overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

vest.

A sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, worn over a shirt, and often as part of a suit; a waistcoat.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/vɛst/
  1. A sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, worn over a shirt, and often as part of a suit; a waistcoat.

    Canada · US
  2. A sleeveless garment, often with a low-cut neck, usually worn under a shirt or blouse.

    UK
  3. A sleeveless top, typically with identifying colours or logos, worn by an athlete or member of a sports team.

  4. Any sleeveless outer garment, often for a purpose such as identification, safety, or storage.

  5. A vestment.

  6. Clothing generally; array; garb.

  7. A loose robe or outer garment worn historically by men in Arab or Middle Eastern countries.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

Derived from French veste (“a vest, jacket”), from Latin vestis (“a garment, gown, robe, vestment, clothing, vesture”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéstis, from *wes- (“to be dressed”) (English wear). Cognate with Sanskrit वस्त्र (vastra) and Spanish vestir.

verb/vɛst/
  1. To clothe with, or as with, a vestment, or garment; to dress; to robe; to cover, surround, or encompass closely.

    passive
  2. To clothe with authority, power, etc.; to put in possession; to invest; to furnish; to endow; followed by with and the thing conferred.

    to vest a court with power to try cases of life and death
  3. To place or give into the possession or discretion of some person or authority; to commit to another; with in before the possessor.

    The power of life and death is vested in the king, or in the courts.
  4. To clothe with possession; also, to give a person an immediate fixed right of present or future enjoyment of.

    to vest a person with an estate
    an estate is vested in possession
  5. (of an inheritance or a trust fund) To devolve upon the person currently entitled when a prior interest has ended.

    intransitive
    Upon the death of the Sovereign the Crown automatically vests in the next heir without the need of coronation or other formality.
  6. To become vested, to become permanent.

    intransitive
    My pension vests at the end of the month and then I can take it with me when I quit.
  7. To invest; to put.

    obsolete
    to vest money in goods, land, or houses
Where this word comes from

Derived from French veste (“a vest, jacket”), from Latin vestis (“a garment, gown, robe, vestment, clothing, vesture”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéstis, from *wes- (“to be dressed”) (English wear). Cognate with Sanskrit वस्त्र (vastra) and Spanish vestir.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

vest has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

vest studiovest workshello, vest

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.