Other forms: guises
A guise is the outward appearance something is presented under. In the guise of, under the guise of friendship, a new guise.
It nearly always appears as in the guise of or under the guise of, and both imply the appearance is a cover for something else. Disguise is the same word with a prefix, and it makes the deception explicit rather than merely implied.
1nounguiseThe outward appearance something is presented under.
“The thief entered the house in the guise of a window cleaner.”
guise is an appearance.
Old French guise means a manner or way, from a Frankish word. Wise, as in likewise, is a distant relative.
Proto-Indo-European
*weyd- — to see, view, behold, perceive
Proto-Germanic
*wīsǭ — manner, way
Frankish
*wīsā — manner, way, fashion
Old French
guisse
Middle English
guise
English, today
guise
Built from
From Middle English guise, gise, gyse, from Old French guisse, guise, vise (“guise, manner, way”), from Old Frankish wīsā (“manner, way, fashion”), from Proto-Germanic wīsǭ (“manner, way”), from Proto-Indo-European weyd- (“to see, view, behold, perceive”). Cognate with Old High German wīsa (“way, manner”), Old English wīse (“way, manner”), Dutch wijze (“way, manner”). More at a doublet of wise.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire