briefs

See also: Briefs

English

A pair of men's briefs

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹiːfs/
• Rhymes: -iːfs

Noun

briefs

1. plural of brief

Noun

briefs pl (plural only)

1. (usually in the plural) A very short, close-fitting type of underpants.
   • 2008, Dan Peek, Why Do They Dress That Way?: People’s Place Book No. 7, page 80:

     Briefs for men and women were not popular in America until the 1930s.

   • 2012, Dan Stephenson, The Underwater Widow:

     Yes, Gentlemen’s Quarterly wrote that Archie wears briefs, like it was something everyone wanted to know.

Usage notes

Despite being a single item of clothing, briefs—like pants, trousers, underpants, &c.—are considered to come in "pairs" and are counted using the phrase "pair(s) of".

Derived terms

• midway briefs
• boxer briefs
• trunk briefs
• bikini briefs
• control brief
• swim briefs
• jockey briefs

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:underwear

Translations

male underwear

• Arabic: سِرْوَال اَلسُّنَة‎ m (sirwāl as-suna)

  Egyptian Arabic: كلوت‎ m (kulut), سلب‎ m (sleb), لباس‎ m (lebaas), أندر‎ m (ʔandar)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貼身短內褲, 贴身短内裤 (tiēshēn duǎnnèikù)

• Czech: slipy (cs) m pl (male underwear)
• Dutch: slip (nl)
• Esperanto: kalsoneto
• Finnish: pikkuhousut (fi), alushousut (fi)
• French: (Europe) slip (fr) m, (Quebec) bobettes (fr) f pl
• German: Unterhose (de) f

• Hungarian: alsónadrág (hu), gatya (hu)
• Italian: slip (it) m pl
• Japanese: ブリーフ (burīfu)
• Luxembourgish: Slip m
• Polish: majtki (pl) pl, slipy (pl) pl, gacie (pl) f pl (colloquial), gatki (pl) f pl
• Portuguese: cueca (pt) f
• Russian: трусы́ (ru) m pl (trusý), бри́фы (ru) m pl (brífy)
• Spanish: slip (es), calzoncillo (es) m, trusa f
• Thai: กางเกงใน (th) (gaang-geeng-nai), กางเกงลิง (th) (colloquial)
• Welsh: trôns m, trônsiau m pl

Verb

briefs

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of brief

Anagrams

• FBIers, fibers, fibres