trousers
- 1A garment covering the body from the waist to the ankles or knees, divided into a separate part for each leg.
The tailor pinned the hem of the suit trousers before sending them out for alterations.
The band's uniform includes navy trousers with a white stripe down each leg.
Similarpants, breeches, britches
Note
The final s is the plural that English gives things in pairs, added to trouse, from Middle Irish triubus, "close-fitting shorts". So the word is plural-only, a pair of trousers, these trousers are too long, yet before another noun it drops the s: trouser leg, trouser pocket. Americans usually say pants, Australians also have strides, and dialect speakers in Britain say kecks.
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Origin
Attested since the 1610s, from earlier trouzes (1580s), extended from trouse (1570s) with the plural ending used for things in pairs, from Middle Irish triubus ("close-fitting shorts"), from Old Irish tribus, of uncertain origin but probably borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French trebus and ultimately a Germanic word meaning "thigh" + "breeches". The unexplained second -r- is perhaps due to drawers, and the word is a doublet of trews.