Meanings
- pluralplural onlyMiscellaneous items, especially the set of equipment required for a particular activity.
drug paraphernalia
3 more examples
He has an impressive collection of bicycling paraphernalia, but he doesn't ride very often anymore.
Then the boys arrived, with their camping paraphernalia, and in such bubbling good spirits that the girls were infected with them, for they had become rather lonesome of late.
1913, Laura Lee Hope, chapter 21, in The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow LakePeople such as William James and the Stephensons (with whom he collaborated) may have been the movers and shakers of the early railways, but there was other, less exalted bods who constructed all the paraphernalia—including stations.
2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and Facts behind railway plaques: Reading (1840)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 56 - archaicpluralplural onlyfamily lawObjects that a married woman owns, such as clothing and jewellery, apart from her dowry.
So she told her what her husband had said and sat with her awhile; but, presently, up came porters, who brought all her clothes and paraphernalia and what not else belonged to her of goods and vessels from her husband’s house and deposited them in that of her mother.
1901, Unknown, “The House with the Belvedere”, in John Payne, transl., The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, volume 5Synonyms: parapherna, paraphernals
Synonyms & antonyms
nounMiscellaneous items, especially the set of equipment required for a particular activity.
nounObjects that a married woman owns, such as clothing and jewellery, apart from her dowry.
More synonyms by meaning
nounequipment consisting of miscellaneous articles needed for a particular operation or sport etc.
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekπαράφερνα
- Medieval Latinparaphernālia“goods which a wife brings over and above her dowry”
- Englishparaphernalia
Borrowed from Medieval Latin paraphernālia (“goods which a wife brings over and above her dowry”), use as noun (short for paraphernālia bona (“paraphernal goods”)) of neuter plural of paraphernālis, from Late Latin parapherna + Latin -ālis (suffix forming adjectives), from Ancient Greek παράφερνα (parápherna), a compound of παρά (pará, “beside”) + φερνή (phernḗ, “dowry”). In the propertied classes, a dowry was placed under the control of the husband, while the paraphernalia which she brought with her remained the wife’s property.
More words from Medieval Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian дреболии, принадлежности
- дреболии (drebolii)miscellaneous items
- принадлежности (prinadležnosti)miscellaneous items
Catalan parafernàlia, faramalla
- parafernàliamiscellaneous items
- faramallamiscellaneous items
Chinese Mandarin 雜項物品 /杂项物品, 各種物件 /各种物件
- 雜項物品 /杂项物品 (záxiàng wùpǐn)miscellaneous items
- 各種物件 /各种物件 (gè zhǒng wùjiàn)miscellaneous items
- 隨身用具 /随身用具 (suíshēn yòngjù)miscellaneous items
- 雜件 /杂件 (zá jiàn)miscellaneous items
Danish grej, utensilie
- grejmiscellaneous items
- utensiliemiscellaneous items
Dutch onderdelen, spulletjes
- onderdelenmiscellaneous items
- spulletjesmiscellaneous items
Finnish varusteet, tarvikkeet
- varusteetmiscellaneous items
- tarvikkeetmiscellaneous items
- tavaratmiscellaneous items
- vaimon omaisuusmiscellaneous items
- vaimon omaisuus(law) things a married woman owns
French panoplie, attirail
- panopliemiscellaneous items
- attirailmiscellaneous items
German Utensilien, Paraphernalien
- Utensilienmiscellaneous items
- Paraphernalienmiscellaneous items
- Paraphernalien(law) things a married woman owns
Hindi सामग्री, सामान
- सामग्री (sāmagrī)miscellaneous items
- सामान (sāmān)miscellaneous items
Hungarian holmi, cucc
- holmimiscellaneous items
- cuccmiscellaneous items
- hóbelevancmiscellaneous items
Italian paraferni, armamentario
- parafernimiscellaneous items
- armamentariomiscellaneous items
- attrezzimiscellaneous items
- dotemiscellaneous items
Polish parafernalia, parafernalia
- parafernaliamiscellaneous items
- parafernalia(law) things a married woman owns
Portuguese parafernália
- parafernáliamiscellaneous items
Punjabi ਸਮੱਗਰੀ, ਸਾਮਾਨ
- ਸਮੱਗਰੀ (samaggarī)miscellaneous items
- ਸਾਮਾਨ (sāmān)miscellaneous items
Russian принадле́жности, снаряжение
- принадле́жности (prinadléžnosti)miscellaneous items
- снаряжение (snarjaženije)miscellaneous items
Spanish parafernalia
- parafernaliamiscellaneous items
Swedish attiraljer
- attiraljermiscellaneous items
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with paraphernalia
Cite this entry
paraphernalia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paraphernalia
“paraphernalia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paraphernalia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “paraphernalia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paraphernalia.
Source: paraphernalia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.