A short coat that you wear over other clothes to keep warm or for style. It can also mean a protective outer cover for something, like a book or wire.
From Middle French “jaquet,” meaning a small or light tunic, a diminutive of “jaque,” a kind of coat. The word spread into English to refer to various short outer garments. Its meaning later expanded to any outer covering, like a book jacket.
When you “jacket” a book or a potato, you’re giving it clothing in the same way you give yourself a jacket. The word slid from fashion into technology and food without changing its core idea: an outer protective layer. Even cables wear “jackets” to keep their insides safe.
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