Etymologically
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pants

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pænts/[1]

Etymology

It is a shortening from English pantaloons,[2][3][4][5] the plural of pantaloon.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Trousers: 1840, in American English, in Etymonline and Barnhart.[2][3] The word was at first limited to vulgar and commercial use, and Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1846 called it “a word not made for gentlemen, but ‘gents’”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Shop language also used it for drawers from 1840, and in Britain it now usually means underpants or knickers.[6][7] The singular pant is from 1893.[2][3] Caught with one's pants down is from 1932,[2][6] to wear the pants, to be the dominant member of a household, by 1931,[2][6] bore the pants off from 1933,[6] and by the seat of one's pants, by instinct, from 1942, first of pilots.[2] A pantsuit is from 1966, and pants suit from 1964.[3]

Timeline

  • 1840 – trousers; drawers.[2][6]
  • 1893 – pant.[2][3]
  • 1931 – wear the pants.[2][6]
  • 1932 – caught with one's pants down.[2]
  • 1942 – by the seat of one's pants.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (chiefly US) Trousers.
  2. (British) Underpants or knickers.

Adjective

  1. (British, slang) Very bad.

Word family

  • fancy-pants
  • capri pants
  • cargo pants
  • harem pants
  • pants suit
  • tap pants
  • training pants
  • pantaloons
  • pantaloon
  • panties

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins