c. 1300, paniere, "large basket for provisions," from Old French panier, paniere "basket," from Latin panarium "bread-basket," noun use of a nerter adjective meaning "pertaining to bread," from panis "bread," from PIE root *pa- "to feed." Transferred sense of "frame of whalebone, etc., used to distend the skirt of a woman's dress at the hips" is by 1869.