breeches

breeches

English

A man wearing breeches.

Alternative forms

• britches (Appalachia, Southern US)

Etymology

From Middle English breches, brechen pl, a variant of Middle English breche, brech, brek (“breeches”), from Old English brēċ (“underpants”), from Proto-Germanic *brōkiz pl (nom.acc.), from Proto-Germanic *brōks (“trousers”); akin to Old Norse brók (“breeches”), Danish brog, Dutch broek, German Bruch f; compare Latin brācae ( > French braies) which is immediately of Celtic origin, and likely ultimately from the same Germanic origin above. Compare brail.

Pronunciation

• (plural of breech):

  IPA^(key): /ˈbɹiː.t͡ʃɪz/

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• (smallclothes; trousers):

  IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɪ.t͡ʃɪz/ (traditional)

  Audio (US)

  (file)

  IPA^(key): /ˈbɹiː.t͡ʃɪz/ (more recent spelling pronunciation)

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtʃɪz, -iːtʃɪz

Noun

breeches

1. plural of breech

Noun

breeches pl (plural only)

1. A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes.
   • 1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 83:

     And how then was the Devil drest? / Oh! he was in his Sunday's best: / His jacket was red and his breeches were blue, / And there was a hole where the tail came through.

2. (informal) Trousers; pantaloons.

   Synonyms: trousers, pants

Derived terms

• breeches buoy
• breeches part
• breeches pipe
• breeches role
• Dutchman's breeches
• knee-breeches
• open-kneed breeches
• petticoat breeches
• too big for one's breeches
• trunk breeches
• wear the breeches

 

Translations

a garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs

Afrikaans: kuitbroek, kuitbeenbroek Catalan: calçons (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 五分褲／五分裤 (wǔfēnkù), 半長褲／半长裤 (bànchángkù), 馬褲／马裤 (zh) (mǎkù) Dutch: kniebroek (nl) f Finnish: polvihousut French: culotte (fr) f, haut-de-chausses (fr) m Galician: calzón (gl) m, calzóns m pl, bragas f pl (dated) Georgian: ბრიჯი (ka) (briǯi) German: Breeches (de) pl Greek: βράκα (el) f (vráka) Ancient: βράκαι f pl (brákai) Italian: brache Japanese: 半ズボン (han-zubon), ブリーチズ (burīchizu) Kyrgyz: бриджи (ky) f (bridji), ооз.шым m (ooz.şım) Norwegian: knebukser m or f Ottoman Turkish: دیزلك‎ (dizlik) Persian: تنبان‎ (fa) (tombân), اندرورد‎ (andarvard) Polish: bryczesy (pl) Portuguese: calções (pt) Russian: бри́джи (ru) pl (brídži) Sicilian: vrachi f pl, causi (scn) m pl Spanish: calzones (es) Swedish: knäbyxor Ukrainian: бриджі (uk) pl (brydži), брічи (bričy) (Canada)

See also

• pantaloons
• britches
• jodhpurs

Further reading

• breeches on Wikipedia.Wikipedia