undershorts

English

A man modeling several styles of underpants

Etymology

From under- ‎ shorts, by analogy with underpants, etc.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

undershorts pl (plural only)

1. (dated) Underpants, type of underwear worn in skin contact with the hip portion of the body, small enough to be worn invisibly under shorts. Typically refers to male, not female, underpants.

   I have one clean pair of undershorts.

   I have to buy more undershorts.

   • 1934, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 3, in Pirates of Venus‎^[1], page 41:

     It being very warm, I removed all of my clothing except my undershorts and lay down to sleep.

   • 1969, Philip Roth, “The Jewish Blues”, in Portnoy’s Complaint‎^[2], New York: Vintage, published 1994, page 47:

     […] like a mouse [I] hop frantically about on my toes, trying to clear my feet of my undershorts before anybody can peek inside, where, to my chagrin, to my bafflement, to my mortification, I always discover in the bottommost seam a pale and wispy brushstroke of my shit.

   • 1989, Shashi Tharoor, “The Thirteenth Book: Passages through India”, in The Great Indian Novel‎^[3], New York: Arcade, published 1993, page 268:

     I have been debriefed—I believe that is the current expression, though I am always tempted, when I hear it, to make sure I still have my undershorts on—by the mandarins of the External Affairs Ministry.

Translations

underpants

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: onderbroek (nl)
• Finnish: alushousut (fi)
• German: Unterhose (de)

See also

• briefs
• boxer shorts
• jockey shorts

References

• “undershorts”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.