Breeches: Encyclopedia II - Breeches - Etymology

Breeches - Etymology

Breeches is a double plural known since c.1205, from Old English (and before Old French) brec or breoc, which was already pl. of broc "garment for the legs and trunk," from the Proto-Germanic root brokiz.

Like other words for similar garments (pants, knickers, shorts; using an obvious plural, as if to reflect it has two legs, as for most synonyms in English, in no longer common in other languages, e.g. the parallel modern Dutch broek), the word breeches has been applied to both outer garments and underwear.

At first it indicated a cloth worn as underwear by both men and women; by the Middle Ages breeches meant "drawers" or "underpants".

In the latter 16th century, breeches began to replace hose (while the German Hosen, also a plural, ousted Bruch) as the general English term for men's lower outer garments, a usage that remained standard until knee-length breeches were replaced for everyday wear by long pantaloons or trousers.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Etymology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki