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 either (or both) earlier Celtic origin or from Proto-West Germanic *brōk, from Proto-Germanic *brōkiz pl (nom.acc.), from *brōks (“trousers”). Akin to Old Norse brók (“breeches”), Danish brog, Dutch broek, German Bruch f; compare Latin brācae ( > French braies, Spanish bragas) which is immediately of Celtic origin. 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, attributive breech)

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
• breechesless
• breechesmaker
• breeches part
• breeches pipe
• breeches role
• Dutchman's breeches
• knee-breeches
• open-kneed breeches
• petticoat breeches
• too big for one's breeches
• trunk breeches
• underbreeches
• 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 (ja) (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) (tonbân), اندرورد (andarvard)
• Polish: bryczesy (pl)
• Portuguese: calções (pt)
• Russian: бри́джи (ru) pl (brídži), бриджи (ru) n pl (bridži)
• 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