tailor

来自古法语 tailleor,裁缝，来自 tailler,剪，切，来自拉丁语 taliare,分开，剪开，来自 talea,砍， 小枝，嫩枝，词源同 tally,retail.

tailor

tailor: [13] A tailor is etymologically a ‘cutter’. The word was acquired from Anglo-Norman taillour, a variant of Old French tailleur. This went back to Vulgar Latin *tāliātor ‘cutter’, a derivative of *tāliāre ‘cut’, which in turn was formed from Latin tālea ‘cutting’ (in the sense of a ‘piece of a plant removed for grafting or regrowing’).

The specific application of the word to a ‘cutter or maker of clothes’ was foreshadowed in medieval Latin tāliātor vestium and Old French tailleur d’habits, and by the time it reached English, the memory of its etymological connection with ‘cutting’ had virtually disappeared; indeed in strict technical usage tailor ‘person who makes up clothes’ contrasts with cutter ‘person who cuts out the cloth’.

Other English descendants of tālea include detail, entail, retail, and tally [15] (which depends on another meaning of tālea, ‘twig’, hence ‘notches cut on a stick for counting’).
=> detail, entail, retail, tally

tailor (n.)

c. 1300, from Anglo-French tailour, Old French tailleor "tailor," also "stone-mason" (13c., Modern French tailleur), literally "a cutter," from tailler "to cut," from Late Latin or old Medieval Latin taliare "to split" (compare Medieval Latin taliator vestium "a cutter of clothes"), from Latin talea "a slender stick, rod, staff; a cutting, twig."

Although historically the tailor is the cutter, in the trade the 'tailor' is the man who sews or makes up what the 'cutter' has shaped. [OED]

The post-Latin sense development would be "piece of a plant cut for grafting," hence a verb, "cut a shoot," then, generally, "to cut." Possible cognates include Sanskrit talah "wine palm," Old Lithuanian talokas "a young girl," Greek talis "a marriageable girl" (for sense, compare slip of a girl, twiggy), Etruscan Tholna, name of the goddess of youth.

Kent. ... You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee; a tailor made thee.
Corn. Thou art a strange fellow: a tailor make a man?
Kent. Ay, a tailor, sir: a stone cutter, or a painter, could not have made him so ill, though they had been but two hours at the trade.
["King Lear"]

One who makes outer garments to order, as opposed to a clothier, who makes them for sale ready-made. Tailor-made first recorded 1832 (in a figurative sense); literal sense was "heavy and plain, with attention to exact fit and with little ornamentation," as of women's garments made by a tailor rather than a dress-maker.

tailor (v.)

1660s, from tailor (n.). Figurative sense of "to design (something) to suit needs" is attested from 1942. Related: Tailored; tailoring.

1. He was wearing a tweed suit that looked tailor-made.

他身穿一套粗花呢西服，看上去像是量身定做的。

2. He was tailor-made, it was said, for the task ahead.

据说他是前头面临任务的最佳人选。

3. I tailor-make music according to the person.

我因人而异地谱写音乐。

4. Each client's portfolio is tailor-made.

每位客户的投资组合都是量身打造的。

5. The company can tailor-make your entire holiday.

公司可以为你的整个假期专门制定一个计划。