An umbrella is a handheld device with a folding frame and fabric cover used to protect you from rain or sun. It opens into a round or oval shape above your head.
From Italian "ombrella," a diminutive of "ombra" meaning shade, from Latin "umbra" for shadow. It originally referred mainly to sunshades before becoming strongly linked to rain protection.
Umbrellas were first status symbols and sunshades long before they were everyday rain tools—more like portable shadows. The same Latin root "umbra" gives us "umbrella" and "umbre" in color names like "ombré," both about shading.
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