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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

breeches.

A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes.

8 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbɹiː.t͡ʃɪz//ˈbɹɪ.t͡ʃɪz/

  1. A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes.

    historical · plural · plural-only

  2. Trousers; pantaloons.

    informal · plural · plural-only
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- Proto-Germanic *brōks Proto-West Germanic *brōk Old English brōc Old English brēċ Middle English brek Middle English breches English breeches From Middle English breches, brechen pl, a variant of Middle English breche, brech, brek (“breeches”), from Old English brēċ (“underpants”), the plural of brōc (“legging, buttocks”), from Proto-West Germanic *brōk, from Proto-Germanic *brōks (“crotch, legging, trousers”). Akin to West Frisian broek (“leggings, over-trousers”), Dutch broek (“pair of trousers, underpants, long-johns”), obsolete German Bruch (“pair of hose, leggings, pants trousers”), Old Norse brók (“breeches”) (whence Danish brog); compare Latin brācae ( > French braies, Spanish bragas) which is immediately of Celtic origin, yet ultimately borrowed from the same Proto-Germanic source above. Compare brail.

noun/ˈbɹiː.t͡ʃɪz//ˈbɹɪ.t͡ʃɪz/

  1. plural of breech

    form-of · plural
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- Proto-Germanic *brōks Proto-West Germanic *brōk Old English brōc Old English brēċ Middle English brek Middle English breches English breeches From Middle English breches, brechen pl, a variant of Middle English breche, brech, brek (“breeches”), from Old English brēċ (“underpants”), the plural of brōc (“legging, buttocks”), from Proto-West Germanic *brōk, from Proto-Germanic *brōks (“crotch, legging, trousers”). Akin to West Frisian broek (“leggings, over-trousers”), Dutch broek (“pair of trousers, underpants, long-johns”), obsolete German Bruch (“pair of hose, leggings, pants trousers”), Old Norse brók (“breeches”) (whence Danish brog); compare Latin brācae ( > French braies, Spanish bragas) which is immediately of Celtic origin, yet ultimately borrowed from the same Proto-Germanic source above. Compare brail.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.