A tall, narrow piece of furniture with many small drawers, used for storing delicate fabrics like chiffon or other items; a cabinet or dresser.
From French 'chiffonnier' (rag collector), itself from 'chiffon' (meaning 'rag' or 'scrap' in French, possibly from Arabic), plus the suffix '-nier' meaning 'one who deals in.' Ironically, despite its humble origin referring to rags, it became a fancy furniture term.
A 'chiffonnier' started as a derogatory term for a rag-picker—the lowest-status job—but through French furniture-makers' cleverness, it transformed into an elegant name for a luxury piece of furniture, showing how language can upgrade the status of words when they move between social classes.
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