mandilion

Syllables: man·di·li·on/mɑnˈdɪlɪən/US/mænˈdɪli.ən/

mandilion noun: a loose outer garment resembling a cassock or coat, often sleeveless, worn by soldiers over armour or by menservants as a type of overcoat. Also the alternative form of mandylion.

Image: Unidentified painter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

mandilion (plural mandilions)

A loose outer garment resembling a cassock or coat, often sleeveless, worn by soldiers over armour or by menservants as a type of overcoat.
- You see likewise, that the lion, being the king of beasts; the horse, being the lustiest creature; the unicorn, whose horn is worth half a city; all these go with no more clothes on their backs, than what nature hath bestowed upon them: but your baboons, and your jackanapes, being the scum and...1609, T. Deckar (Thomas Dekker), The Guls Horne-booke, London: Imprinted at London [by Nicholas Okes] for R. S[ergier?]; republished as T. Decker; J[ohn] N[ott], The Gull's Hornbook: Stultorum plena...
- [T]hen followed the younger men of their train, and for the moſt apparelled in ſatin doublets, ſilk hats, chains of gold about their bodies, and ſilk hoſe, with a bow and four ſhafts, and every one had his Page going before him in red mandilions, as before mentioned, and caps accordingly ſuitable...1801, T[homas] Roberts with W[illiam] W[ood], The English Bowman, or Tracts on Archery: To which is Added the Second Part of the Bowman's Glory [by William Wood], London: Printed for the author, by...

Also used as

mandilion is also the alternative form of mandylion.

Examples of mandilion in a sentence

MANDILION, (Mandille, Fr.) the soldier's coat is so called by the Italians.1810, William Duane, A Military Dictionary, or, Explanation of the Several Systems of Discipline of Different Kinds of Troops, Infantry...
Mandilion A loose coat or jacket reaching to the hips and worn with the sleeves hanging free.1978, Doreen Yarwood, Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Costume, London: B. T. Batsford, →ISBN, page 279:

Forms of mandilion

plural	mandilions

Origin of mandilion

From Middle French mandillon (from 1572), from mandille + -on (“forming diminutives of things”); compare Italian mandiglione (1598).

See mandylion.

Words that rhyme with mandilion

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about mandilion

What does mandilion mean?: Mandilion means a loose outer garment resembling a cassock or coat, often sleeveless, worn by soldiers over armour or by menservants as a type of overcoat.
How do you use mandilion in a sentence?: MANDILION, (Mandille, Fr.) the soldier's coat is so called by the Italians.
What part of speech is mandilion?: Mandilion is a noun.
How do you pronounce mandilion?: Mandilion is pronounced /mɑnˈdɪlɪən/ (UK).
What is the plural of mandilion?: The plural of mandilion is mandilions.

Words near mandilion in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: mandilion (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mandilion.wav.

Cite this entry: “mandilion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mandilion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.