trousers

English

Etymology

Trousers

Attested since the 1610s, from the earlier form trouzes (attested since the 1580s), extended from trouse (1570s), with plural ending typical of things in pairs, from Middle Irish triubhas (“close-fitting shorts”), of uncertain origin. The unexplained intrusive second -r- is perhaps due to the influence of drawers.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹaʊzəz/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹaʊzɚz/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊzəz, -aʊzə(ɹ)z
• Hyphenation: trou‧sers

Noun

trousers pl (plural only, attributive trouser)

1. An article of clothing that covers the part of the body between the waist and the ankles or knees, and is divided into a separate part for each leg.

   Synonyms: breeches, britches, (all Britain, dialectal) kecks, (chiefly US) pants, (Australia) strides; see also Thesaurus:trousers

   The trousers need to be shortened.

   Why can women wear trousers when men can’t wear skirts?

   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The Dissolution”, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 3:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     The effect the apparition had on me was to make me start violently, and we all know what happens when you start violently while holding a full cup of tea. The contents of mine flew through the air and came to rest on the trousers of Aubrey Upjohn, MA, moistening them to no little extent. Indeed, it would scarcely be distorting the facts to say that he was now not so much wearing trousers as wearing tea. [...] "I see you have not changed since you were with me at Malvern House," he said in an extremely nasty voice, dabbing at the trousers with a handkerchief. [...] "Frightfully sorry," I said. "Too late to be sorry now. A new pair of trousers ruined. It is doubtful if anything can remove the stain of tea from white flannel."

Usage notes

• Trouser is found as a singular form in fashion, to refer to a single pair of trousers or a particular line of trousers, but is otherwise generally considered incorrect.
• Usage of pants, trousers, and slacks:
  • Pants is about four times more common in the US than trousers, based on use in COCA.
  • Trousers is about nine times more common in the UK than pants, based on use in BNC.
  • Slacks about one tenth as common as pants in the US and trousers in the UK.

Hyponyms

• see Thesaurus:trousers

Derived terms

• all mouth and no trousers
• all mouth and trousers
• bell-bottomed trousers
• bell-bottom trousers
• combat trousers
• drainpipe trousers
• harem trousers
• in short trousers
• long trousers
• overtrousers
• pair of trousers
• peg-top trousers
• put one's trousers on one leg at a time
• put on one's trousers one leg at a time
• saggy trousers
• short trousers
• spongebag trousers
• stovepipe trousers
• trouserettes
• trousersed
• trousersless
• undertrousers
• wear the trousers
• whoops, there go my trousers

 

Related terms

• trouser

Descendants

• → Gamilaraay: tharrawurra
• → Irish: treabhsar
• → Jersey Dutch: trāuzer (from the singular)
• → Marshallese: jedo̧ujij
• → Welsh: trowsus, trowser, trywsus

Translations

article of clothing for the lower body — see pants

Anagrams

• rousters