Why this word is great
SURPLICE — [Noun] A loose, white liturgical vestment with wide sleeves, worn over the cassock and extending to the hips or knees. From Middle English surplys, from Old French surpeliz, from Medieval Latin superpelliceum, from Latin super ("over") + pellis ("fur"), originally denoting a garment worn over fur. Unlike the "alb" (a full-length tunic worn beneath heavier vestments) or the "cassock" (a snug, somber base layer), the surplice is airy, provisional, a cloud of linen briefly settling over the dark wool beneath. It is the whisper of fabric as a priest raises the chalice, the crumpled brightness draped over a choirboy’s restless shoulders, the way it catches the candlelight like a moth’s wing—a fleeting purity, always borrowed, always about to be shed.