French word dossier comes from Old French dos (back) which in turn comes from Latin dorsum (back). This is probably because a dossier (an organizer of documents) is normally labelled on the back
| Dictionary entry | Language | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| -ier | French (fr) | Used to form the names of jobs. Used to form the names of ships. Used to form the names of trees bearing a particular type of fruit. |
| dorsum | Latin (lat) | (anatomy) back, part of the body between the neck and buttocks. (figuratively) ridge, summit. |
| *dossum | Vulgar Latin (la-vul) | |
| dos | Old French (fro) | (anatomy) back. |
| dos | French (fr) | (anatomy) back (of a person). (in the plural) backs (of persons). Backstroke. |
| dossier | French (fr) | (figuratively) case, notably legal. An organizer to keep papers in, to be stored as a single unit in a filing cabinet, see folder.. Back of furniture, to rest the sitter's back on. Dossier. File, account; directory on a computer, see folder. |