Bodice is a fitted upper garment for the torso, typically sleeveless or with short sleeves, designed to shape the figure. It is used as an inner or outer garment and forms part of a dress or blouse, often structured with boning or seams for support. The term also refers to the torso itself in historical contexts.
"The bodice of the wedding dress was intricately embroidered."
"She wore a corset-style bodice over a satin blouse."
"The museum displayed a 19th-century bodice with ornate lacing."
"During the fit session, the seamstress pinned the bodice to ensure a smooth silhouette."
Bodice comes from the Old French bodice, a diminutive of body, dating from the 15th century. The word likely traces to Latin corpus ‘body,’ via French corpius or bodice, with the sense narrowing to a fitted upper garment worn over the torso. In medieval and early modern fashion, the bodice was a central structural element of women’s clothing, often stiffened with boning, lacing, or stays. By the 17th-18th centuries, ‘bodice’ referred specifically to the upper garment of a gown or dress, distinguishing it from the skirt or lower layers. The term has persisted in fashion vocabulary, including modern historical costuming and corsetry, though contemporary usage sometimes broadens to refer to any fitted torso section of a garment. First known use appears in English records around the 1400s-1500s, with evolving connotations as garment construction evolved from separate bodice and skirt to integrated bodices in dresses and gowns. Over time, the semantic field widened to include the torso itself as a body region, especially in fashion contexts where the bodice is a defining silhouette feature.
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Words that rhyme with "Bodice"
-ice sounds
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Pronounce as BO-dis, with stress on the first syllable. IPA US/UK: /ˈbɒdɪs/. The first syllable uses the open back rounded vowel /ɒ/ similar to 'pot' in American dialects of non-rhotic regions; the second syllable is a short /ɪ/ followed by /s/. In quick speech, the t- or d-s might be slightly softened, but the standard pronunciation remains /ˈbɒdɪs/. Audio reference: listen for the stark first-syllable block and the crisp /d/ followed by the short /ɪ/ before /s/.
Common mistakes include saying /ˈboʊdɪs/ with a long 'o' as in 'bone' and misplacing stress as /ˈboʊdɪs/ or /ˈbɔdɪsi/. Another error is softening the /d/ into a /t/ or slurring the /ɪ/ into a schwa. To correct: keep the /ɒ/ (or open back unrounded vowel) in the first syllable and make a clear /d/ before the /ɪ/. Emphasize the short, crisp second syllable and avoid adding an extra syllable or a trailing /z/.
In US and UK, /ˈbɒdɪs/ is standard; rhoticity affects only some vowels, not the bodice itself, so both sides retain a non-rhotic pronunciation in Received Pronunciation, but Americans pronounce /ɒ/ closer to /ɑ/ depending on regional dialects. In Australian English, you’ll often hear /ˈbɒdɪs/ with a more centralized /ɒ/ and a slightly flatter /ɪ/. The main variation is vowel quality in the first syllable; the consonants /d/ and /s/ stay crisp in all varieties.
The difficulty comes from the short, clipped /ɒ/ in the first syllable and the rapid transition to /dɪs/. Many speakers misplace the /d/ or blend /ɒ/ into /ɑ/ or /ɔ/. The second syllable’s /ɪ/ is brief and can be swallowed, making it sound like /bɔdés/ or /boː.diz/. Focus on a crisp /d/ and a short, unstressed /ɪ/. Practice with minimal pairs like bodice vs. bodazzle to hear the contrast.
A Bodice nuance is the crisp stop in the middle of the word: the /d/ is a true alveolar stop, not a flap, with the tongue contacting the alveolar ridge quickly. Avoid turning /d/ into a voiced alveolar tap in rapid speech. The /ɪ/ should be short and nearly unreleased before /s/. Also, keep the syllable boundary clear: BO-dis rather than BOd-is. These subtleties help distinguish bodice from similar-sounding words like ‘body’.
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