Vestiture

Vestiture is a term with several related meanings centered on clothing or covering. Its root is the Latin vestitus, from vestire, meaning to clothe. In general use, vestiture can refer to clothing or attire, often in historical or formal contexts, though the term is uncommon in everyday speech.

In law and ecclesiastical history, vestiture denotes investiture—the formal act of conferring office or authority and the associated property or rights. The term is closely tied to the investiture controversy of the high medieval period, a dispute over whether secular rulers or the church had the authority to appoint bishops and invest them with their offices.

In biology, vestiture describes the surface covering of an organism or plant organ. In botany, it refers to coverings such as hairs (trichomes), scales, or spines on leaves, stems, or seeds, and is used to differentiate textures like glabrous (without vestiture) versus pubescent or pilose (bearing hair). In zoology, vestiture similarly denotes the external covering, including fur, feathers, scales, or other guard hairs, and is often important in taxonomic descriptions.

Etymology notes indicate that the clothing sense is the older usage, while the legal/administrative sense derives from the same root through specialized historical usage. Vestiture thus spans everyday dress, legal practice, and scientific description, unified by the idea of a covering or investiture.

See also: investiture, clothing, indumentum, trichome, pubescence.