What does "habergeon" mean?

A sleeveless or short-sleeved coat of mail armour (a shorter hauberk).

What is a synonym for "habergeon"?

Common synonyms include: aegis, armor, cortex, harness, mail, panoply.

Pronounced //ˈha.bə.d͡ʒən//.

//ˈha.bə.d͡ʒən// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A sleeveless or short-sleeved coat of mail armour (a shorter hauberk). historical
"Their mightie ſtrokes their haberieons diſmayld, / And naked made each others manly ſpalles; […]"
2
(Middle Ages) a light sleeveless coat of chain mail worn under the hauberk wordnet
3
The quilted undergarment worn under a hauberk. historical
"His quilted habergeon stuffed with cotton, gave him, indeed, an exterior almost herculean. What finally became of this brave belligerent I did not learn; but as he was never shy in exposing his person, it is very probable that[…]"
4
A hauberk, any coat of mail, less commonly even a coat of scale armour. broadly
"The defensive armour, or coat of mail of a knight, or man at arms, (also called a hauberk or habergeon,) was[…]"

"Their mightie ſtrokes their haberieons diſmayld, / And naked made each others manly ſpalles; […]"

From Middle English hauberjoun, from Old French hauberjon, haubergeon, from Early Medieval Latin (h)alsbergum.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.