755: manikin and mannequin Jan 1, 2017

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Mannequins resemble people for art and fashion-related purposes, so it would make sense that English adopted this word from the language of France, a place known well for those two things. The word, however, is originally Dutch from, 'manekijn' which means, 'little man', with the spelling only changed to fit French orthography. English did also gain another word, 'manikin' (or sometimes 'mannikin') directly from Dutch, but with the spelling altered to fit English orthography. Not only does this other spelling denote the models, but also physically small people, especially men.

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